Europe Rediscovers Its Rivers: Rhine–Danube Emerges as a Strategic “Blue Highway”
The drought of 2026 pushed the Rhine and Danube to exceptionally low levels and exposed a critical European vulnerability: rivers are not simply waterways, but part of the continent’s logistics, industrial and strategic-resilience architecture. Brussels is already putting new funding behind inland waterways through the Connecting Europe Facility, as Europe begins to rethink the TEN-T network for an era of climate extremes, war and fragile supply chains.