Pöördumine

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: BRE2 07/DCS – Tel. direct line +32 229-80319

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

ENVIRONMENT

The Director-General

Brussels ENV.C.1/CC

Ambassador Kyllike Sillaste-

Elling

Permanent Representation of

Estonia to the EU

Rue Guimard 11–13

1040 – Brussels

BELGIUM

[email protected]

[email protected]

Subject: Launch of a structured Water Dialogue with each Member State to

significantly enhance the implementation of EU water legislation

Dear Ambassador,

As part of the recently adopted Water Resilience Strategy (1), called for by the European

Council and the European Parliament, the Commission stressed the need to significantly

improve the implementation of the EU water legislation, for the Union to be able to face

the water crisis.

On 4 February 2025, the Commission adopted a report to the Council and the European

Parliament on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and

the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) (2) based on the assessment of the third River Basin

Management Plans and second Flood Risk Management Plans submitted by Member

States.

This report is accompanied by country-specific staff working documents for each Member

State. These analyses provide detailed information on the implementation of the two

Directives in the country, identified severe challenges and gaps and established country-

specific recommendations to ensure all necessary efforts are taken before 2027.

In the Water Resilience Strategy, the Commission announced that, to follow up on these

findings and recommendations, it will conduct “Structured Water Dialogues” with each

(1) COM/2025/280 final.

(2) COM/2025/2 final.

2

Member State to work jointly towards significantly accelerating action and overcome the

root causes of the implementation deficit.

The “Structured Water Dialogues”, that will be conducted between 2025 and 2027, are a

political process that will yield a list of key joint commitments agreed between

Commissioner Roswall, responsible for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive

Circular Economy, and the relevant Minister responsible for water management, to steer a

major leap forward in implementation. Such agreement will be presented publicly in the

capital of the Member State concerned.

To prepare such political agreement, the Commission will conduct two preparatory

technical meetings, which should result in a better joint understanding of the most

important deficiencies to be swiftly overcome and the support the Commission can offer

to do so. For those meetings, the Member State is best placed to decide on the composition

of the national delegation. However, given the deficiencies identified, the Commission

strongly encourages the engagement of representatives from all relevant competent

Ministries/authorities whose areas of action have a strong bearing on water management,

namely environment, agriculture, energy, transport, infrastructure, budgetary control.

With this letter we would like to inform you that we are planning to hold the technical

meetings with Estonia in the course of 2026. The Commission expects to share a concrete

timeline at the Informal Meeting of EU Water and Marine Directors scheduled for 27-28

November 2025, in Copenhagen.

Further to that, we will propose concrete dates for the technical meetings, as well as a series

of questions to prepare the ground for those meetings.

I hereby invite you to appoint a focal point to liaise with, in the next stages of the Structured

Water Dialogue.

This process will be led by the unit on Sustainable Freshwater Management in DG

ENVIRONMENT. For any further information you may wish to contact Head of Unit

Claudia Olázabal or Director Veronica Manfredi.

We look forward to initiating this important joint process, which we trust will make your

country more water resilient and thus also benefit the joint efforts of the Union in this

domain.

I thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Eric MAMER

Electronically signed on 26/09/2025 16:27 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: BRE2 07/DCS – Tel. direct line +32 229-80319

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

ENVIRONMENT

The Director-General

Brussels ENV.C.1/CC

Ambassador Kyllike Sillaste-

Elling

Permanent Representation of

Estonia to the EU

Rue Guimard 11–13

1040 – Brussels

BELGIUM

[email protected]

[email protected]

Subject: Launch of a structured Water Dialogue with each Member State to

significantly enhance the implementation of EU water legislation

Dear Ambassador,

As part of the recently adopted Water Resilience Strategy (1), called for by the European

Council and the European Parliament, the Commission stressed the need to significantly

improve the implementation of the EU water legislation, for the Union to be able to face

the water crisis.

On 4 February 2025, the Commission adopted a report to the Council and the European

Parliament on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and

the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) (2) based on the assessment of the third River Basin

Management Plans and second Flood Risk Management Plans submitted by Member

States.

This report is accompanied by country-specific staff working documents for each Member

State. These analyses provide detailed information on the implementation of the two

Directives in the country, identified severe challenges and gaps and established country-

specific recommendations to ensure all necessary efforts are taken before 2027.

In the Water Resilience Strategy, the Commission announced that, to follow up on these

findings and recommendations, it will conduct “Structured Water Dialogues” with each

(1) COM/2025/280 final.

(2) COM/2025/2 final.

2

Member State to work jointly towards significantly accelerating action and overcome the

root causes of the implementation deficit.

The “Structured Water Dialogues”, that will be conducted between 2025 and 2027, are a

political process that will yield a list of key joint commitments agreed between

Commissioner Roswall, responsible for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive

Circular Economy, and the relevant Minister responsible for water management, to steer a

major leap forward in implementation. Such agreement will be presented publicly in the

capital of the Member State concerned.

To prepare such political agreement, the Commission will conduct two preparatory

technical meetings, which should result in a better joint understanding of the most

important deficiencies to be swiftly overcome and the support the Commission can offer

to do so. For those meetings, the Member State is best placed to decide on the composition

of the national delegation. However, given the deficiencies identified, the Commission

strongly encourages the engagement of representatives from all relevant competent

Ministries/authorities whose areas of action have a strong bearing on water management,

namely environment, agriculture, energy, transport, infrastructure, budgetary control.

With this letter we would like to inform you that we are planning to hold the technical

meetings with Estonia in the course of 2026. The Commission expects to share a concrete

timeline at the Informal Meeting of EU Water and Marine Directors scheduled for 27-28

November 2025, in Copenhagen.

Further to that, we will propose concrete dates for the technical meetings, as well as a series

of questions to prepare the ground for those meetings.

I hereby invite you to appoint a focal point to liaise with, in the next stages of the Structured

Water Dialogue.

This process will be led by the unit on Sustainable Freshwater Management in DG

ENVIRONMENT. For any further information you may wish to contact Head of Unit

Claudia Olázabal or Director Veronica Manfredi.

We look forward to initiating this important joint process, which we trust will make your

country more water resilient and thus also benefit the joint efforts of the Union in this

domain.

I thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Eric MAMER

Electronically signed on 26/09/2025 16:27 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: BRE2 07/DCS – Tel. direct line +32 229-80319

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

ENVIRONMENT

The Director-General

Brussels ENV.C.1/CC

Ambassador Kyllike Sillaste-

Elling

Permanent Representation of

Estonia to the EU

Rue Guimard 11–13

1040 – Brussels

BELGIUM

[email protected]

[email protected]

Subject: Launch of a structured Water Dialogue with each Member State to

significantly enhance the implementation of EU water legislation

Dear Ambassador,

As part of the recently adopted Water Resilience Strategy (1), called for by the European

Council and the European Parliament, the Commission stressed the need to significantly

improve the implementation of the EU water legislation, for the Union to be able to face

the water crisis.

On 4 February 2025, the Commission adopted a report to the Council and the European

Parliament on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and

the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) (2) based on the assessment of the third River Basin

Management Plans and second Flood Risk Management Plans submitted by Member

States.

This report is accompanied by country-specific staff working documents for each Member

State. These analyses provide detailed information on the implementation of the two

Directives in the country, identified severe challenges and gaps and established country-

specific recommendations to ensure all necessary efforts are taken before 2027.

In the Water Resilience Strategy, the Commission announced that, to follow up on these

findings and recommendations, it will conduct “Structured Water Dialogues” with each

(1) COM/2025/280 final.

(2) COM/2025/2 final.

2

Member State to work jointly towards significantly accelerating action and overcome the

root causes of the implementation deficit.

The “Structured Water Dialogues”, that will be conducted between 2025 and 2027, are a

political process that will yield a list of key joint commitments agreed between

Commissioner Roswall, responsible for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive

Circular Economy, and the relevant Minister responsible for water management, to steer a

major leap forward in implementation. Such agreement will be presented publicly in the

capital of the Member State concerned.

To prepare such political agreement, the Commission will conduct two preparatory

technical meetings, which should result in a better joint understanding of the most

important deficiencies to be swiftly overcome and the support the Commission can offer

to do so. For those meetings, the Member State is best placed to decide on the composition

of the national delegation. However, given the deficiencies identified, the Commission

strongly encourages the engagement of representatives from all relevant competent

Ministries/authorities whose areas of action have a strong bearing on water management,

namely environment, agriculture, energy, transport, infrastructure, budgetary control.

With this letter we would like to inform you that we are planning to hold the technical

meetings with Estonia in the course of 2026. The Commission expects to share a concrete

timeline at the Informal Meeting of EU Water and Marine Directors scheduled for 27-28

November 2025, in Copenhagen.

Further to that, we will propose concrete dates for the technical meetings, as well as a series

of questions to prepare the ground for those meetings.

I hereby invite you to appoint a focal point to liaise with, in the next stages of the Structured

Water Dialogue.

This process will be led by the unit on Sustainable Freshwater Management in DG

ENVIRONMENT. For any further information you may wish to contact Head of Unit

Claudia Olázabal or Director Veronica Manfredi.

We look forward to initiating this important joint process, which we trust will make your

country more water resilient and thus also benefit the joint efforts of the Union in this

domain.

I thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Eric MAMER

Electronically signed on 26/09/2025 16:27 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: BRE2 07/DCS – Tel. direct line +32 229-80319

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL

ENVIRONMENT

The Director-General

Brussels ENV.C.1/CC

Ambassador Kyllike Sillaste-

Elling

Permanent Representation of

Estonia to the EU

Rue Guimard 11–13

1040 – Brussels

BELGIUM

[email protected]

[email protected]

Subject: Launch of a structured Water Dialogue with each Member State to

significantly enhance the implementation of EU water legislation

Dear Ambassador,

As part of the recently adopted Water Resilience Strategy (1), called for by the European

Council and the European Parliament, the Commission stressed the need to significantly

improve the implementation of the EU water legislation, for the Union to be able to face

the water crisis.

On 4 February 2025, the Commission adopted a report to the Council and the European

Parliament on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and

the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) (2) based on the assessment of the third River Basin

Management Plans and second Flood Risk Management Plans submitted by Member

States.

This report is accompanied by country-specific staff working documents for each Member

State. These analyses provide detailed information on the implementation of the two

Directives in the country, identified severe challenges and gaps and established country-

specific recommendations to ensure all necessary efforts are taken before 2027.

In the Water Resilience Strategy, the Commission announced that, to follow up on these

findings and recommendations, it will conduct “Structured Water Dialogues” with each

(1) COM/2025/280 final.

(2) COM/2025/2 final.

2

Member State to work jointly towards significantly accelerating action and overcome the

root causes of the implementation deficit.

The “Structured Water Dialogues”, that will be conducted between 2025 and 2027, are a

political process that will yield a list of key joint commitments agreed between

Commissioner Roswall, responsible for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive

Circular Economy, and the relevant Minister responsible for water management, to steer a

major leap forward in implementation. Such agreement will be presented publicly in the

capital of the Member State concerned.

To prepare such political agreement, the Commission will conduct two preparatory

technical meetings, which should result in a better joint understanding of the most

important deficiencies to be swiftly overcome and the support the Commission can offer

to do so. For those meetings, the Member State is best placed to decide on the composition

of the national delegation. However, given the deficiencies identified, the Commission

strongly encourages the engagement of representatives from all relevant competent

Ministries/authorities whose areas of action have a strong bearing on water management,

namely environment, agriculture, energy, transport, infrastructure, budgetary control.

With this letter we would like to inform you that we are planning to hold the technical

meetings with Estonia in the course of 2026. The Commission expects to share a concrete

timeline at the Informal Meeting of EU Water and Marine Directors scheduled for 27-28

November 2025, in Copenhagen.

Further to that, we will propose concrete dates for the technical meetings, as well as a series

of questions to prepare the ground for those meetings.

I hereby invite you to appoint a focal point to liaise with, in the next stages of the Structured

Water Dialogue.

This process will be led by the unit on Sustainable Freshwater Management in DG

ENVIRONMENT. For any further information you may wish to contact Head of Unit

Claudia Olázabal or Director Veronica Manfredi.

We look forward to initiating this important joint process, which we trust will make your

country more water resilient and thus also benefit the joint efforts of the Union in this

domain.

I thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Eric MAMER

Electronically signed on 26/09/2025 16:27 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121