By 2030, a water-conscious Europe: the EU member states can only manage the crisis caused by water shortages together

Record heat sweeps across Spain all the way to Finland. This summer, drought is occurring over an increasingly larger area across Europe, forcing governments to implement urgent water restriction measures and a temporary ban on non-essential water use. World Weather Attribution links the current droughts to months of lower rainfall and record heat between April and June. France's corn production is at a 50-year low, and Romania has lost more than one million hectares of arable land from production. The low water levels in rivers and lakes also affect tourism and transportation, including the Danube, where the water level has not been this low since 1996. Extreme dryness is the primary cause of brush and forest fires. According to EU data, 500,852 hectares have burned in the bloc so far, compared to 381,444 hectares in the same period in 2025. The EU is struggling to cope with the current droughts because decades of overuse, pollution, and poor water management have depleted water ...