European Commission forces crisis-affected countries to privatize water
Brussels - The European Commission is deliberately promoting the privatization of water services as one of the conditions imposed as part of the rescue plans, it acknowledged in a letter to civil society groups. The direction of European Commissioner Olli Rehn responded to questions in an open letter, written by civil society organizations, regarding the role of the Commission in the Troika's privatization obligation imposed on Greece, Portugal and in other countries. Today, in a second letter to Commissioner Rehn, the organizations demand that he "henceforth refrain from any pressure imposing conditions for the privatization of water".
The strong support of the Commission for privatization goes against the growing tendency in Europe and elsewhere to note that privatization does not necessarily deliver the announced benefits. Paris and other cities have recently re-municipalized their water services due to bad experiences with privatization. In 2004, the Dutch government passed a law prohibiting the delegation of public water service to the private sector and the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that any future legislation attempting to privatize public services would be unconstitutional.
In its response, the Commission did not put forward any argument to support its position, despite the fact that research shows that public services are often more efficient than those in the private sector. It also violates key articles of the European Union Treaty providing for its neutrality regarding the regime of ownership of water services [1].
Some MEPs have already asked the Commission a question asking for clarification on the contradiction between the recommendations of the Troika and the requisite neutrality of the Commission.
“It really shows how the Commission has lost touch with reality. Their ideological arguments are not based on proven facts and go so far as to ignore the democratic will of the people, ”said Gabriella Zanzanaini of Food & Water Europe.
“The Commission must explain itself on a number of points. Not only is there no evidence to support the idea that the private sector is more efficient, but there is also very strong public resistance to privatization. European citizens will not easily back down on this issue, ”said Jan Willem Goudriaan of the European Federation of Trade Unions in Public Services (EPSU).
As movements across Europe intensify to combat the sale of public water, a first European Citizen Initiative has been launched to promote the implementation of the right to water for all in Europe and so that water supply and management of water resources are not subject to “internal market rules” while being excluded from liberalization.
[1] “Neutrality” on the issue of public or private ownership of water services is presented in article 345 TFEU and Art. 17 1 of Directive 2006/123 / EC on services in the internal market
Source: http://actuwiki.fr/eco/1154
Press release: https://www.econologie.info/share/partag ... tQij59.pdf