Brussels, 8 April 2026 – Environmental organisations have raised serious concerns following today’s private meeting in Stockholm between Commissioner for Environment Jessika Roswall and hand-picked industrial and mining industry lobbyists from Sweden. On the agenda for discussion? The future of the EU’s main water protection rules: the Water Framework Directive.

The WFD is a cornerstone of EU law, protecting clean drinking water, safeguarding rivers and lakes, and ensuring they remain safe for people to swim in and fish from. It also plays a key role in strengthening climate resilience. Any decisions about its future must be transparent, inclusive, and firmly in the public interest.

Yet this meeting brings together an EU Commissioner and an industry that has consistently lobbied to weaken water protections in order to reduce regulatory constraints to rapidly increase extraction and profit, no matter the many harmful consequences for local health, nature, communities, businesses and livelihoods. No environmental or wider civil society representative made the cut for an invite to these talks.

Athénaïs Georges, Policy Officer for Biodiversity and Water, European Environmental Bureau, said:

“The Commission is placing short-sighted and specific corporate interests above public and environmental protection by holding closed-door talks with hand-picked participants, while the mining industry continues to lobby aggressively to weaken fundamental EU legislation. Reopening the Water Framework Directive now risks unleashing a Pandora’s box – jeopardising the health of current and future generations.”

Across Europe, mining is already linked to serious water pollution. Hazardous substances, including heavy metals and acid mine drainage, contaminate rivers and groundwater, damage ecosystems, and in some cases make water unsafe to drink. This pollution is not only wrecking wildlife, with biodiversity disappearing and ‘dead zones’ growing across Europe, but also people’s health, local livelihoods, and the simple ability to enjoy clean, safe water in their daily lives.

Diego Marin, Senior Policy Officer for Raw Materials and Resource Justice, European Environmental Bureau, said:

“Secret deals should not decide our water’s future. All mining projects have serious impacts on water, with pollution travelling far beyond the source and contaminating nature for decades – even permanently. Europe is on a slippery slope. The EU must uphold strong protections for people, nature, and future generations, not short-term mining profits.”

Decisions on Europe’s water are an opportunity for Europe’s policymakers to put people, nature, and long-term resilience first – showing clear leadership in prioritising people’s health and the nature on which we depend over short-term profits.

ENDS.

Notes to editor:

• Joint briefing paper on why WFD should not be revised – Living Rivers Europe coalition and ClientEarth, March 2026
• Europe’s Waterways Under Threat from Mining Lobby – Investigation by DeSmog, March 2026
• Industry’s role in water resilience: How some lead – and others wreck – Living Rivers Europe briefing, Nov 2025

Media contact:

Ben Snelson

Communications Officer for Water and Agri-Food Systems

benedict.snelson@eeb.org