This paper contextualizes the case of the river Scheldt in the framework of two different scales of water regimes: a) European Union (EU) level water regime, in the context of the Water Framework Directive, and b) the International River Basin governance regime in the context of the International Scheldt Commission. The establishment of these international water institutions was predicated on the assumption that cooperation could be politically feasible and therefore the regime formation could be viable. However, the history of the Scheldt international river is surrounded by years of intensive negotiations between different stakeholders, agreements/disagreements (“learning”), and eventual fighting. The authors argue that the collective-collaborative joint vision from different stakeholders is not immediately achieved by default once the water regime is set. Moreover, the State-centered approach of international regimes, need to be completed by local analysis to properly understand and implement international agreements. A multi-level approach is necessary to understand the dynamics of the regime formation and change the importance of domestic politics as well as the overlay of other international regimes with wider geographical span. This approach will therefore give prominent importance to local variables related to the institutional contexts of locally managed water resources.