Open letter of the European Water Movement to the Italian and European parliamentarians

As European Water Movement we confirm our firm commitment against privatization and the water grabbing of water resources.

In this regard we express great concern for the European policy in favour of private players, as defined in the Next Generation EU and in the related national Recovery Plans. In particular, sharing the assessments and the initiatives of the Italian Forum of Water Movements (Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua), we express concern for Italy that, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and the connected Competition Bill (DDL Concorrenza), is preparing a context unbalanced in favour of the privatization of local public services.

Regarding water sector, the PNRR aims to achieve a restructuration based on enlargement towards the South, but not only, of the territory of competence of some big multiservice companies listed on the Stock Exchange identified as “efficient” operators, but actually resulted such only by assuring maximization of profits through financial processes.

Connected to the PNRR, the Competition Bill aims explicitly to remove regulatory and administrative barriers to market opening. In particular, article 6 aims to definitively rely essential services on the market, making their public government residual, so that local governments who would opt for such an option will have to literally “justify” their missed recourse to the market.

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In mid November a group of MEPs tried to relaunch a lobby group inside the European Parliament that pretends to be water related. However, the stated aim of this group of MEPs does not consider the effort of European civil society for the past decade to achieve the human right to water at the European level.

The MEP Water Group is composed by some MEPs that have a terrible track record on the promotion of a human right based approach for water and they seemed to be more concerned about the interests of lobby groups and industry.

The European water movement has sent a letter to the members of the European Parliament clarifying the issue and demanding that the EU recognises water as a human right, like almost two million citizens demanded ten years ago during the first ever ECI. We have also demanded for a clear position against the quotation of water in the stock market as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation concerned.

We will continue to demand, as our Naples chart states, the recognition and implementation of the human right to drinking water and sanitation as necessary for life. Access to water as a universal human right should be included in all constitutions of member states, and in the basic principles and acts of the European Union and that Water is to be excluded from all international trade agreements, including the treaties of the World Trade Organisation and to be excluded from the internal market rules of the European Union. The MEP Water Group does not neither of them. 

See the letter here :

Dear MEPs,

In the name of the European Water Movement we would like to inform you that the initiative of the MEP Water Group does not recognize as a priority that water is a human right, as recognized by the UN, through the Resolution 64/292 adopted in 2010.

We call the members of the MEP Water Group and the members of the European Parliament as a whole to consider, recognize and implement the right to water, as requested by nearly two million people in 2013 through the European Citizens Initiative. We remind you of the three pillars of the ECI, which have still not been implemented in EU law:

• Guaranteed water and sanitation for all in Europe as a Human Right and common good.
• No liberalisation of water services. It also means the exclusion of water from trade and investment agreements.
• Universal (Global) access to water and sanitation.

We would also like to draw to your attention the need to consider water as a public good, a human right and a common good that you fail to address in the MEP Water Group mission statement. We believe it would be more appropriate to work for a statement against quotation of water in the stock market. To this regard, we remind you of the grave concern expressed by the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation and the European civil society that contrasts with the unacceptable silence of EU institutions.

We would be happy to exchange on this issue,

Yours

This World Water Day 2022 the European Water Movement calls EU institutions to support the Alternative World Water Forum 2022 in Dakar

Dear MEP,

World Water Day will be celebrated on 22 March to promote the Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) for all the people of the earth and in its preservation for future generations. From the European Water Movement (EWM) we strive to achieve its full implementation across the European Union and beyond the European continent.

This year the Alternative World Water Forum (FAME – Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau) will be held in Dakar from 21 to 25 March against commodification of this common good. This Forum aims to give a voice to the populations of Africa and in the World that are suffering the most for lack of access to clean water and the infringement of the HRWS. Unfortunately we still witness an appropriation of this common good by private interests, especially by some multinational corporations of the water sector, and a poor control on water management and ownership by some public institutions.

On the occasion of other events, starting from the 2006 Forum of Mexico City, the European Parliament has taken positions in favour of the implementation of the HRWS. Similarly it supported in 2015 the demands presented on the occasion of European Citizens Initiative Right2Water. On 16 December 2020, the European Parliament formally adopted the revised Drinking Water Directive. The revision of the DWD is a response to the mobilisation that collected more than 1.8 million signatures in the first-ever successful ECI. The Directive entered in force on 12 January 2021, and Member States have two years to transpose it into national legislation. We believe that the EP must seize the opportunity to continue to work towards implementing the HRWS in each member state.

We call on MEPs to renew their support to the efforts for implementation of the HRWS. It is important that this focus is not lost in the neightbourgh policy of the EU where there are many issues to be raised in terms of extractivism and protection of water resources, like in the Balkans. But we think that is Particularly important the promotion of the human rights to water in the foreign action of the EU in regions such as the African continent. This is why we ask your support for the FAME 2022. Please, give us your support by signing this statement.

We would like to take this opportunity to request a meeting with you to discuss the need for a more proactive parliament in defense of the HRWS. After two years of pandemic and social restrictions, we believe the issue of universal water should be back on the agenda, something that unfortunately does not seem to be in the agenda of the European Commission. Therefore we propose a meeting with representatives of the secretariat of the EWM between 10th, 11th and 12th of May 2022.

We look forward to your response,

European Water Movement

On October 1, 2 and 3, the European Water Movement met in person in Barcelona to analyze the current situation in this time of climate crisis and pandemic, review the main water issues and plan its activity in the short and medium term. This meeting brought together more than 40 people from 9 countries (Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Serbia).

In the context of the climate emergency, it is urgent to address in a participatory manner the impacts of climate change on the availability of water resources and the management of extreme events, which will intensify.

For recognition of human rights to water and sanitation

The COVID 19 pandemic has had a significant impact with a significant increase in poverty and situations of social and economic vulnerability. The availability of water, a common good, fundamental for life, hygiene and health, has become a central issue. Many governments have taken positive social protection measures to secure water supplies and ban water cuts, which are now receding. As part of the recognition of the human rights to water and sanitation, the European Water Movement calls on governments:

• to maintain or generalize these measures to prohibit water cuts,
• guarantee vulnerable people a free minimum supply which covers their basic water needs and enables them to live in dignity,
• improve the content of the European directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption, which does not systematically take up the demands of the citizens' initiative right2water when transposed into state legislation.

For public water management and a fight against the grabbing of water sources

The European Water Movement continues to be firmly committed against privatization and the grabbing of water sources.

We note with satisfaction a slow but significant increase in remunicipalisation processes, which, in many cases, have been carried out in the face of radical opposition from private lobbies. However, there is still firm resistance in favor of privatization and with clearly insufficient governance and citizen participation mechanisms.

We note with great concern the European policy in favor of private players as defined in the Next Generation EU plan and int the related national Recovery Plans. On the other hand, the growing influence of financial actors in the development of water and sanitation service infrastructure imposes a speculative logic that predominates in the financial world. Water cannot be a financial asset whose value is established in financial markets.

We consider rivers, aquifers, lakes and wetlands to be common goods. Their management must therefore be carried out on a non-profit basis and according to criteria of solidarity, mutual cooperation, collective access, equity, democratic control, sustainability and non-deterioration of water bodies. We are therefore very concerned about the construction of hydropower plants in rivers and protected areas, especially in the Balkan countries. 

Participate and contribute to the success of the Alternative World Water Forum

The European Water Movement calls on all citizen movements acting in favor of the cause of water to participate in the Alternative World Water Forum which will take place in 2022 in Dakar, Senegal. The European Water Movement will be present there and will bring the requirements indicated above. Finally, the European Water Movement sets itself the objective of improving its contacts with organizations that share its struggles at the international level.