Sittings · Document

Report (2024/2104(INI)) 2025-04-30

The European Water Resilience Strategy

30.4.2025 A10-0073/5

Amendment 5

Tamás Deutsch, Csaba Dömötör, Viktória Ferenc, Kinga Gál, Enikő Győri, András Gyürk, György Hölvényi, András László, Ernő Schaller-Baross, Pál Szekeres, Annamária Vicsek, Mathilde Androuët, Jordan Bardella, Christophe Bay, Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain, Marie Dauchy, Valérie Deloge, Mélanie Disdier, Anne-Sophie Frigout, Angéline Furet, Jean-Paul Garraud, Catherine Griset, Virginie Joron, Fabrice Leggeri, Julien Leonardelli, Thierry Mariani, Aleksandar Nikolic, Philippe Olivier, Gilles Pennelle, Pascale Piera, Pierre Pimpie, Julie Rechagneux, André Rougé, Julien Sanchez, Pierre-Romain Thionnet, Rody Tolassy, Matthieu Valet, Alexandre Varaut, Séverine Werbrouck, Paolo Borchia, Susanna Ceccardi, Anna Maria Cisint, Aldo Patriciello, Silvia Sardone, Raffaele Stancanelli, Isabella Tovaglieri, Roberto Vannacci, Gerolf Annemans, Barbara Bonte, Tom Vandendriessche, Nikola Bartůšek, Jaroslav Bžoch, Klara Dostalova, Ondřej Knotek, Tomáš Kubín, Jana Nagyová, Jaroslava Pokorná Jermanová, Filip Turek, Anders Vistisen, Rachel Blom, Ton Diepeveen, Marieke Ehlers, Sebastian Kruis, Sebastiaan Stöteler, Auke Zijlstra, Mireia Borrás Pabón, Jorge Buxadé Villalba, Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal, Jorge Martín Frías, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Hermann Tertsch, Afroditi Latinopoulou, Tiago Moreira de Sá, António Tânger Corrêa, Vilis Krištopans

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Recital R a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

Ra. whereas agriculture is an essential sector in protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainability of ecosystems; whereas farmers play a fundamental role in sustainable water management by maintaining agricultural landscapes, preserving groundwater and actively helping to combat erosion and desertification; whereas farmers need to be supported in the transition to more resilient and water-efficient practices;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/6

Amendment 6

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Recital AL a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

ALa. whereas building dams and dykes and cleaning riverbeds are critical interventions in flood risk mitigation;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/7

Amendment 7

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 14

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

14. Calls for a legislative framework setting sectoral water efficiency and water abstraction targets at basin level, based on up-to-date assessments of water availability and climate risks, including a water valuation approach that accounts for ecosystem services and long-term sustainability, and covering all water uses, including industry, energy, agriculture, public institutions and households; underlines the fact that these targets should be ambitious yet adaptable, taking into account the specific circumstances and progress already achieved by each Member State to ensure continued efforts towards efficiency gains across all regions; stresses the importance of efficient and uniform data collection practices across the Member States and all sectors, including through the use of innovative technologies, as well as real-time data collection points for more transparency on water consumption; emphasises the need to carry out an appropriate assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of water use;

14. Calls for a legislative framework setting sectoral water efficiency and water abstraction targets at basin level, based on up-to-date assessments of water availability and climate risks, including a water valuation approach that accounts for ecosystem services and long-term sustainability, and covering all water uses, including industry, energy, agriculture, public institutions and households; calls for further red tape and excessive regulatory burdens to be avoided; underlines the fact that these targets should be ambitious yet adaptable, taking into account the specific circumstances and progress already achieved by each Member State to ensure continued efforts towards efficiency gains across all regions; stresses the importance of efficient and uniform data collection practices across the Member States and all sectors, including through the use of innovative technologies, as well as real-time data collection points for more transparency on water consumption; emphasises the need to carry out an appropriate assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of water use;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/8

Amendment 8

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 21

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

21. Calls for the transition to a more sustainable and competitive farming model, assisted by the implementation of sustainable practices and innovative solutions that promote biodiversity, reduce chemical inputs and enable water resources to be managed efficiently, including nature-based solutions, regenerative management, smart precision irrigation technologies, digital monitoring systems, advanced treatment methods and smart water distribution networks, optimising consumption and preventing water resource depletion, and that help ensure continued productivity while enabling agriculture to reduce pollution, use pesticides and fertilisers efficiently, improve the hydrological cycle, enhance groundwater recharge and adapt to lower water use; considers that technological solutions can also include measures that can increase water absorption, infiltration and retention in agricultural systems, which are important amid increasing occurrences of both drought and heavy rains;

21. Calls for the transition to a more sustainable and competitive farming model, assisted by the implementation of sustainable practices and innovative solutions that promote biodiversity, reduce chemical inputs and enable water resources to be managed efficiently, including nature-based solutions, regenerative management, smart precision irrigation technologies, digital monitoring systems, advanced treatment methods and smart water distribution networks, optimising consumption and preventing water resource depletion, and that help ensure continued productivity while enabling agriculture to reduce pollution, use pesticides and fertilisers efficiently, improve the hydrological cycle, enhance groundwater recharge and adapt to efficient water use; recalls that the average share of water use for irrigation presents significant differences across Member States; stresses that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not appropriate and would create unnecessary and unjustifiable bureaucratic constraints and red tape in certain regions;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/9

Amendment 9

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 25 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

25a. Underlines that the role of farmers in Europe as the main environmental protectors and guarantors of food sovereignty must be respected, and calls for the elimination of all restrictions on access to water resources that prevent them from carrying out their activities properly; deplores the fact that farmers are often accused of being the main cause of water management problems, whereas, in reality, they are the ones most affected by droughts and other extreme weather events; stresses that farmers should be considered not as consumers but as users of water that is displaced within the hydrological cycle; calls for a balanced approach, based on consultation between agricultural stakeholders, public authorities and civil society, to address water challenges in a fair and pragmatic manner;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/10

Amendment 10

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 27 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

27a. Calls for an increase in water availability in water-stressed areas for all sectors at the local and regional level, ensuring that water basins are interconnected where possible and minimum river flows are respected;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/11

Amendment 11

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 55 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

55a. Requests specific exemptions from the WFD and its ‘daughter’ directives (the Groundwater Directive and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive), as well as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the EU Nature Restoration Law1a, in order to allow, among other things, the construction of infrastructure, including that necessary to prevent floods, or the development of large housing projects to address the current housing crisis; stresses that the construction of this infrastructure would have prevented the disaster that occurred in Valencia in October 2024;

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1a Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2024 on nature restoration and amending Regulation (EU) 2022/869, OJ L, 2024/1991, 29.7.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1991/oj.

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/12

Amendment 12

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 55 b (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

55b. Is concerned about the fact that the outermost regions of the European Union face specific challenges in terms of water management, particularly due to the scarcity of water resources, the dilapidation of infrastructure and increased vulnerability to the effects of extreme weather events; urges the Commission and the Member States concerned to prioritise the funding of specific programmes for the renovation of the water infrastructure of the outermost regions, the creation of suitable water reserves, including desalination units, the reuse of treated wastewater, and the collection and storage of rainwater to guarantee equitable access to water;

Or. en

30.4.2025 A10-0073/13

Amendment 13

Report A10-0073/2025

Thomas Bajada

The European Water Resilience Strategy

(2024/2104(INI))

Motion for a resolution

Paragraph 62 a (new)

Motion for a resolution

Amendment

62a. Emphasises that controlling the flow of water and water storage for irrigation are the basis of all human activity as they play an essential role in ensuring access to water for people, meeting agricultural needs, and supporting electricity production; underlines that delays to and blocking of water irrigation and retention projects pose serious threats to food security and are detrimental to the general interest;

Or. en