– June 2020 : On 22 June 2020 the European Commission announced that EU water legislation – the Water Framework Directive – will not be changed. In a statement to POLITICO, the EU’s Commissioner for Environment, Ocean and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, confirmed the need to focus on supporting implementation and enforcement “without changing the directive”. (more infos)

– April 2020 : Despite the Covid-19 global health crisis- April 20, 2020, 23 large companies taking a stand for the EU water law & calling on the EU to uphold it ! (more info)

– March 2020 : Citizens mobilised and called their minister ahead of the Environment Council meeting on 5 March 2020 (mail, video, meetings, etc.). At this meeting, 4 Member states (AU, DK, FR, and GR) clearly asked for no revision to the directive  and 5 Member states (DE, ES, FI, IT, CY) made supportive statements to the fitness check conclusions & expressed the need for better implementation. This is good news for rivers, and these 9 supportive Member states represent 64,75% of the EU population. (more infos)

– December 2019 : 5 500+ scientists and academics released a statement calling on the EU to fully implement and enforce the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) in order to halt and reverse the catastrophic decline in the world’s freshwater biodiversity. The statement is endorsed by twelve scientific bodies representing over 5,000 scientists, and more than 500 individual scientists specialising in the wide array of species impacted by the WFD – from amphibians to insects, freshwater fishes to birdlife. The scientists include Dr. Jörg Freyhof, Regional Chair of the IUCN/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, and Professor Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, Director of Swansea University’s Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research. View the statement, download the full list of signatories or add your name to the statement.

– December 2019 : 11 December, the European Commission’s final evaluation of EU water legislation has concluded the EU Water Framework Directive to be “fit for purpose”. In particular, the conclusions indicate that the objectives of the law “are as relevant now as they were at the time of the adoption” and that the law has led to “a higher level of protection for water bodies and flood risk management”. The results also saying that any lack of progress is due to ‘insufficient funding, slow implementation and insufficient integration of environmental objectives in sectoral policies, and not due to a deficiency in the legislation’.(more info)

– November 2019 : The paper drafted by a group of government officials, which included a series of proposed changes to weaken the WFD was NOT endorsed at the Water Directors’ meeting November the 29!! The letter  sent to Water Directors in the behalf of Living Rivers Europe coaltion (and other actions), which urge Water Directors not to endorse the document were explicitly recognised in the discussion and in the final report of the meeting !

– May 2019: Living Rivers Europe publishes new analysis outlining the positions of various industry groups on the Water Framework Directive. The paper shows that, if ever put into effect, such changes would give these sectors the green light to undertake even more destructive activities, potentially causing havoc on our rivers and lakes.

– Mach 2019 : Public consultation and #Protectwater campaign ended yesterday 12 March and managed to mobilise 375,386 people from across Europ, making the EU’s public consultation on the legislation one of the largest ever in the history of the European Union ! Read press release

– September 2018 : 20-21 September 2018: #ProtectWater takeover of the EU Water Conference in Vienna, including a body-painting stunt outside of the conference. Publication of new Living Rivers Europe report, Bringing Life back to Europe’s Rivers: The EU Water Law in Action.

– July 2018 : 8 July 2018: The European Rivers Network and WWF organise the biggest Big Jump ever, with 160 events taking place across 18 European countries.