Water Resilience Strategy

Statements

Published: 6.3.2025

As clean water is vital for humans, nature, and economy, Finnish Energy acknowledges the importance of the Water Resilience Strategy. At the same time, it is crucial that the new strategy and its objectives align with existing EU water legislation, as well as other EU policies. The ecological and chemical status of water bodies is comprehensively regulated by, among others, the Water Framework Directive and the Nature Directive, and the flood risks are already assessed and managed by the Floods Directive. The Water Resilience Strategy will also connect with climate change adaptation, biodiversity & nature restoration, European security and competitiveness, among other areas. Finnish Energy emphasizes that the strategy should be coherent and complementary with other EU processes.

The management and use of water resources must remain within the scope of national decision-making, considering the diverse problems and issues related to water across Europe. A one-size-fits-all policy cannot effectively address these varied challenges. In addition to regional differences, the strategy should also address different water sources, such as fresh surface water, groundwater and seawater.

It is important that water used for hydropower and pumped storage hydro, as well as water taken from waterbodies for cooling processes, is not treated as water consumption. This water is returned to the water body and should therefore not be subject to restrictions that could limit its use. For industry, the implementation of the revised Industrial Emissions Directive will already lead to binding environmental performance limit values for water in environmental permits.

The strategy should take the bottom-up approach. The EU level could boost Member States coordination and the exchange of best practices as well as provide funding and address the need for water-related education and skills.

Download EC Water Resilience Strategy statement 20250304 (PDF)