Revision Water Framework Directive: Is EU water law at risk of being weakened?

The European Commission has announced that it will revise the Water Framework Directive (WFD) with the aim of reducing administrative burdens and boosting mining activity in Europe. A revised law proposal is expected to be presented by the European Commission in the summer of 2026. Environmental groups are concerned that reopening the revision of the WFD will weaken the EU’s most important water law.

In the ResourceEU action plan the European Commission writes that it aims to  simplify the WFD and address specific bottlenecks in order to promote circularity and access to critical raw materials in the EU. The European Commission states in the ResourceEU action plan that they will build on Member State experience and stakeholder input.

Adapted policies necessary

Last year, geopolitical pressure on Europe to become more self-sufficient intensified. The response was the ResourceEU action plan. The need to secure raw materials and remove mining bottlenecks became inevitable. The announcement to reopen the revision of the WFD, was made shortly after agreement was reached about a revised WFD that includes updated priority substances in surface and ground waters.

Dialogues with selected stakeholders

This month, the European Commission is holding closed-door consultations with selected stakeholders. Environmental groups complain that they have not been invited and are deeply concerned that they cannot share their expertise or express their concerns. With potential regulatory easing for farmers and industry, their concerns may be justified, but to be sure we will have to wait until the European Commission presents the new proposal.

Lack of implementation and enforcement

For this reason, twenty-three environmental organisations wrote a letter to the European Commision on 18 February. “We urge the European Commission to refrain from reopening or amending the Water Framework Directive. This will almost certainly result in its weakening, whereas the focus should be on accelerating its implementation and enforcement, as indicated in the Water Resilience Strategy”, the letter states.

Tweaks to existing rules

According to news platform ENDS, the European Commission has sent invitations to stakeholders with the following text. “The aim of the meeting is to discuss challenges arising from the implementation of the directives with the farming community, as well as potential measures to reduce the burden of the cornerstone directives. Participants were asked to identify tweaks to the rules with potential to stimulate innovation and new business models.”

Water Resilience Strategy

During the presentation of the Water Resilience Strategy, European Commissioner Jessika Roswall said that the European Commission would not come up with new legislation. “We need to focus on the implementation of existing water legislation.” The deadline for achieving ‘good or high ecological status’ is in 2027, while only 37% of Europe’s surface waters complied with the rules between 2015 to 2021, and only 29% achieved ‘good chemical status’ during this period. This means a vast majority of Europe’s water bodies still fail to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive.  

Deadline WFD

In 2022 an official spokesperson for the European Commission stated that the deadline for achieving the WFD targets would not be postponed. The Water Framework Directive is meeting its objectives and no legislative changes are planned to extend the existing deadlines. In December 2019, a Fitness Check concluded that the water legislation is broadly fit for purpose. It remains unclear what this European Commission will do when the deadline is reached.