Aqua Publica Europea welcomes the State of the Union address delivered by President Ursula von der Leyen today in Strasbourg. As Europe has witnessed a “summer of truth” with unprecedented droughts, wildfires and heat, we welcome announcements aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change and adapting the water sector to them. Turning these announcements into action will require a coordinated, collective and comprehensive mobilisation of social, economic and political resources.

The presentation of the upcoming European Framework for Climate Resilience, and the President’s call to close the European insurance gaps for the effects of climate change, are steps in the right direction. These are two elements for which Aqua Publica Europea has been advocating for many years, to ensure that we can collectively achieve water resilience.

While we welcome all initiatives aimed at addressing the challenges facing the water sector, it will be important to understand how the announced measures will fit within the European Water Resilience Strategy unveiled just one year ago, as well as within the existing regulatory framework. Predictability, policy coherence and alignment between funding mechanisms and ambitions are key to success.

As Public Water Operators, we are already committing to and stepping up massive efforts to improve network efficiency and increase resilience, while ensuring that water remains affordable and that access to clean drinking water and sanitation is available to all. Concrete examples of our commitments, as well as our ideas on how to reconcile efficiency, financial sustainability and equity, are outlined in our recent papers, Financing Water Resilience (2025) and Resilience in Action (2023). And we continue to stress the need to ensure that all water consumers pay for their water consumption.

But ensuring the sustainable use of water resources and preparedness to mitigate climate change will require efforts across all uses. If, according to the European Environment Agency, only 21% of total water abstraction is linked to public water supply (compared with 31% for agriculture and 47% for electricity cooling and manufacturing), achieving a water-resilient future will require us to look beyond urban water consumption.

As the European Commission is still planning to revise the Water Framework Directive, which could undermine water resilience, including in terms of water availability, Aqua Publica Europea reiterates that the main focus of the European institutions should be on the effective implementation of the existing EU water acquis, including the Polluter Pays Principle, as outlined in the European Water Resilience Strategy.

Photo credits: European Union, 2026