Stakeholder resistance to public policies is a constant and everyday occurrence in societies that have embraced elements of liberal democracy. Stakeholder resistance occurs at local, regional, national, and supranational levels of government. This paper examines how citizens and stakeholders resist top-down Europeanization mechanisms, using the example of water services reform in Croatia within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The theoretical framework of the paper is based on a multitude of works by domestic and foreign scholars who have studied the issues of Europeanization, resistance, and more recently, the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. The paper is written using the theory-building process-tracing research method, relying on pre-existing empirical material through which a probable dependence of causes, causal mechanisms, and consequences has been constructed. The paper is written as a case study, focusing on the water supply system reform within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. Since the research is qualitative, it involves a qualitative analysis of the material, conducted by analyzing data collected from eight focus groups held in various locations across Croatia. The paper then presents findings based on the empirical material from the focus groups, which are depicted in a simple graphic. The penultimate chapter discusses how the research findings relate to the theoretical framework, answers the research question, and demonstrates how the timeline set by the EU for the creation of the NRRP, along with its inflexibility regarding changes, is a cause of resistance in Croatia. The conclusion highlights the contribution of the research and encourages other researchers to address the issues that have arisen from the water service reform in Croatia.