“The Water Resilience Strategy is timely in light of the challenges posed by droughts, floods, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events affecting our continent,” emphasized Viktória Ferenc, an MEP for Fidesz-KDNP and a member of the Patriots for Europe Group, in her speech on Monday. The European Commission presented its Water Resilience Strategy in the European Parliament on July 7. In connection with the Strategy, Viktória Ferenc particularly highlighted the severe drought situation, which is causing significant damage to agriculture in Central Europe, including Hungary, and endangering the security of the food supply. “Access to water and the preservation of water resources is not only an environmental issue but also an economic and social one,” the MEP pointed out.

In her speech, Viktória Ferenc also cited the Danube river basin as an example, which runs through more than ten countries, noting that “water management challenges can only be addressed jointly, which makes it essential to strengthen cross-border cooperation.”

The MEP also pointed out that the strategy can only succeed if appropriate financial instruments are made available for its implementation. She therefore addressed two questions to Commissioner Jessika Roswall, regarding the next Multiannual Financial Framework and the management of cross-border projects.

The MEP stressed: “Effective water management is essential for strengthening cohesion, as the economic and social disadvantages of regions affected by water scarcity or water-related damages threaten the stability of the entire Union.”

Earlier, MEPs from the Tisza Party voted in favor of the report that serves as the basis for the water resilience strategy, which would abolish preferential pricing for irrigation water and ignore national specificities—passing the burden of increased costs onto farmers and seriously endangering food security. “We, the Fidesz-KDNP MEPs, remain committed to ensuring that the interests of the Hungarian people and Hungarian farmers are properly represented in the European Parliament,” Viktória Ferenc concluded.