Greek government pushes water sector reform bill to consolidate utilities

The Greek cabinet is advancing a water‑sector reform bill that would merge more than 70 existing water service providers into two public companies, EYDAP and EYATH. The legislation expands their responsibilities to include water supply, sewage, irrigation and flood protection across much of the country, covering regions such as Attica, Boeotia, Evia, Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki.

The reform introduces Greece’s first National Water Strategy and earmarks up to €400 million for new infrastructure, bringing total planned spending on water projects to about €3.4 billion. Over 900 projects have been slated for more than 170 municipalities, with €685 million already allocated to more than 200 works in 119 towns.

The government emphasizes that the change does not privatise water, maintaining public majority ownership of the two companies while improving efficiency, pricing transparency and climate‑resilience. Opposition parties, including the KKE and PASOK, warn that the move could turn water into a profit‑driven commodity, cite a lack of feasibility studies, and criticize the speed of the reform.

The bill also establishes a regulatory authority to oversee pricing, introduces tiered tariffs for vulnerable households and aims to create economies of scale to better address drought and the broader climate crisis.