Towards a new EU Blue deal to combat drought and water shortages – the regional perspective

In this year's edition of the EU Regions Week, the European Alliance group organised this seminar exploring the topic of a new EU Blue Deal to combat drought and water shortages. These issues are becoming increasingly severe in many European regions, putting immense strain on ecosystems, economies, and communities. They are exacerbated by a changing climate, population growth, urbanisation, and unsustainable water management practices.
The purpose of the seminar was to foster meaningful dialogue among high level politicians and officials, policymakers, and stakeholders to explore innovative solutions, exchange knowledge and formulate strategies that will help mitigate and adapt to the impact of water shortages and drought in European regions.

President of the EA Group, Karl Vanlouwe, who moderated the event, said that the complexity of this issue requires solutions developed with the help of regional authorities and stakeholders. He underlined the Group's call for an EU Blue Deal and coordinated action at European scale to address water crisis as a priority and expressed his hope that water will become one of the top priorities of the next Commission.

In his intervention, Ms Veronica Manfredi, Director for Zero Pollution and Green Cities at the European Commission's DG Environment, pointed out the significant economic damages due to global warming and that water scarcity concerns many areas in the EU, not only Mediterranean regions. In this respect she recalled that the European Commission would come up in 2024 with an initiative on water resilience as previously announced by Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen in the State of the Union speech.
She added that business as usual is not an option and that we need systemic transformation of the way water is managed,used, and valued, bearing in mind the need to protect nature and ecosystems.

Flanders Blue Deal Strategy was presented by Mr Tom de Vits, special advisor to Zuhal Demir, the Flemish Minister for Environment and Energy, as best practise to combat the recurring droughts that have been plaguing Flanders since 2016. The Flemish strategy will gradually ameliorate water retention in swamps and wet grasslands, invest into large-scale filtration and buffer basins, soften the urban environment and increase circular water use in agriculture and industry

Finally Mr Durk Krol, Executive Director at Water Europe, presented his organisation's "Manifesto for an ambitious EU water smart strategy".
He called for a Water-Smart-Society in which the value of water is recognised and realised to ensure water security, sustainability, and resilience; all available water sources are managed so that water scarcity and pollution are avoided; water and resource loops are largely closed to foster a circular economy and optimal resource efficiency; the water system is resilient against the impact of climate and demographic change; all relevant stakeholders are engaged in guaranteeing sustainable water governance.