On Friday 27 June, APE had the honour of contributing to a debate on the new Water Resilience Strategy, organised by the delegation of the Partito Democratico at the European Parliament. The session was part of the programme of the PD’s ‘Summer School’, held in Brussels from 25 to 27 June, with the participation of over 300 young representatives of the party from across Italy.

The session was opened by the Chair of the Parliament’s Environment Committee, MEP Antonio Decaro, and featured contributions from MEP Thomas Bajada, Ms Veronica Manfredi – Director for Water Resilience at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment – and Mr Pietro De Lotto of the European Economic and Social Committee.

We reiterated that the launch of the Water Resilience Strategy is to be welcomed, as it reflects the growing awareness and commitment at the higher level of EU institutions to address the increasing challenges in water resource management, as a key condition for the future prosperity of our continent. While this is crucial, and many of the initiatives foreseen in the Strategy are highly valuable, APE also emphasised the need to strengthen water governance at the local level. Only long-term planning, based on broad stakeholder participation and strong political ownership at the local level, can ensure that water resources are managed efficiently, thus reducing the risk of conflicts between users.

In addition, the financing model for the water sector must evolve to reflect emerging challenges. A renewed combination of tariffs, taxes, and transfers is required to achieve the “three Es”: efficiency, equity, and environmental sustainability. In this context, solidarity mechanisms between users and territories must be ensured to guarantee social and territorial cohesion.

Finally, we presented concrete examples of how public water operators are working to enhance resilience on the ground, as showcased in our publication Resilience in Action.