EU Launches Water Resilience Stakeholder Platform as Drought Grips a Third of Europe
Freitag, 25. September 2026
The European Commission launched its new Water Resilience Stakeholder Platform on September 21 in Brussels, bringing together more than 50 high-level experts and representatives from EU member states, civil society, and the private sector to help steer implementation of the bloc's Water Resilience Strategy. The launch, held at the headquarters of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, came alongside the unveiling of a companion European Water Academy on the same day.
The Platform grew out of a call for applications issued in spring 2026 and is intended to identify barriers to implementing the Water Resilience Strategy, propose practical solutions, and ensure the strategy's actions reflect the range of public and sectoral interests across the EU. The Strategy itself, adopted in June 2025, sets out an integrated roadmap for achieving water resilience across the bloc by 2050, including a target of a 10% increase in water-use efficiency by 2030 through expanded water reuse in agriculture, industry, and public supply.
The initiative arrives as much of Europe grapples with one of its driest years on record. Roughly 38% of Europe's land area has been in drought this year amid repeated heatwaves, according to Euronews reporting on the 2026 European drought. Switzerland recorded its driest August since measurements began in 1864, and September has continued unusually dry across parts of the continent. The consequences have rippled across sectors: farmers are contending with dwindling irrigation water, energy producers have throttled output as reduced river flow cuts into hydropower generation, and lower water levels have disrupted river shipping — a combination that risks pushing up both food and energy prices.
Desalination, once viewed as a costly option of last resort in Europe, is increasingly being adopted as part of the response. In Greece, several Aegean islands faced acute water shortages at the height of this year's tourist season, and desalination plants have become a central part of the answer, according to reporting on the region's growing reliance on the technology.
Commission officials have framed the new Platform as a mechanism to ensure the transition to water resilience is applied "fairly" across the EU, so that no community — including smaller or less-resourced member states — is left without a voice in shaping how the Strategy is carried out on the ground. With drought conditions expected to recur in coming years, the Platform's early work is likely to focus on practical coordination between national governments, regional utilities, and industry on water reuse, infrastructure investment, and drought contingency planning.