​During this July plenary, CoR members had the opportunity to discuss the revision of the EU legislation on Urban Waste Water Treatment and Ambient Air Quality with the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius.

EA Group President, Karl Vanlouwe, pointed out that the Flemish Blue Deal, which builds on an investment of almost half a billion euro, could serve as a blueprint for an EU Blue Deal. Mr Vanlouwe highlighted that it was designed to maximise circular water use in agriculture and industry and to improve waste water management. "The Blue Deal could be something we share across the EU and one way of overcoming the problem of water shortages," he said.

Dariusz Strugała joined the debate to stress that while the revised legislation's scope focuses on urban areas, it does not take into consideration rural areas which do not have access to enough subsidies: "The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive should be subject to a more thorough revision so that all of Europe's regions can be covered by it."