The objective of achieving a good status of all water bodies in the European Union, as provided by the EU Water Framework Directive, will significantly be missed by the reference date in December 2015. Reasons cannot only be found in the different framework conditions in the Member States, but also in non-realistic ecological objectives as well as in methodological deficiencies of the Directive itself. Instead of reforming the Directive, the anti-systemic extension of time today seems to be the favourite instrument to provisionally achieve the environmental aims, for covering the existing problems, and to adjourn necessary decisions until further notice. Contradictory to the jurisprudence of the ECJ, which encourages the Member States to fill out the substantial water relevant scopes in their decisions, Germany largely avoids responsibility by taking the easy way out and implementing the so-called 1:1-way. As a consequence, the interpretation and decision-making authority increasingly is left to the European Institutions. In contrast, it still is very rarely made use of determining environmental objectives, which are less strict and more differentiated as well as enforceable, although this would be legally and practically appropriate.