I want to thank Maria for a very constructive first informal Environment Council under the Cypriot Presidency. I believe that the priorities in my portfolio are crucial for Europe to step up our preparedness. Securing water resilience and moving to a circular economy are absolute priorities. I am glad that the Cypriot Presidency and Ministers around the table today shared that view today.
Investing in water is investing in our economic security. The cost of doing nothing is too high. If we dont adapt, annual drought costs could reach up to EUR 45 billion and coastal flooding could exceed EUR 1 trillion per year by the end of the century. That is why we urge Member States to make full use of EU cohesion funds which we have made more flexible to invest in water resilience, as well as the fresh pot of EUR15 billion EIB funding. The new MFF will continue to have a strong focus on water resilience, but it is equally important to boost private finance and push for innovative solutions in the water sector as public money alone will not be enough.
Wildfires are also critically linked to water security and climate change. They are becoming more frequent, they last longer and they are more severe. So we need to step up action. Together with Commissioner Lahbib, I will launch a wildfire management strategy in spring. With this strategy we want to put wildfire resilience high on the political agenda and improve what we do with the tools that we have on the ground. We will look at the full cycle: from prevention to recovery, better use of science and innovation, and greater cooperation across Member States. From the environmental perspective, we need to focus on healthy ecosystems. This is not a “nice to have”, its the first line of defence against wildfires.
Finally, our discussions also focused on the urgent need to speed up our transition to circularity. We presented a first circularity package just before the end of the year. This is a clear response to the urgent challenges faced by the EU plastics recycling industry. And it is a first step towards the Circular Economy Act that I will present later this year which will create the European framework to make Europe more circular, competitive and resilient. For circularity to work, we will identify and tackle key barriers so that we can boost the business case for secondary raw materials in the single market.
Thank you.