Water is a human right: the EU parliament says no to water services in the TTIP

    Water is a human right: the EU parliament says no to water services in the TTIP

    Water is a human right. This was decreed by the European Parliament which yesterday voted in plenary a resolution promoting this right, starting from a citizens' initiative through the Right2Water petition


    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him




    THEwater it is a human right. To decree it was the Parliament European which yesterday voted in plenary a resolution promoting this right, starting from a citizens' initiative through the petition Right2Water.

    The latter is a historic achievement. The ECI (EU citizens' initiative) made it possible to collect 1,8 million signatures, thanks to which Strasbourg decided to follow the route traced by the citizens: with 363 yes, 96 no and 231 abstentions, the report of the Irish MEP passed of the GUE, Lynn Boylan.

    The text invites the European Commission to present legislative proposals enshrining the right to water, together with the revision of the framework directive. In addition, it also calls for opposing the privatization of water services and for excluding them from the TTIP negotiations.

    In particular, there were three requests:

    1. the institutions of the European Union and the Member States are required to ensure all citizens the right to drinking water and sanitation;

    2. the supply of drinking water and the management of water resources are not subject to the "logic of the single market"And that water services are excluded from any form of liberalization;

    3. the EU step up its efforts to ensure a universal access to drinking water and sanitation.

    “The citizens' initiative Right2Water it was the first successful example of this democratic mechanism. Ownership and management of water services are clearly a major concern for citizens and cannot be ignored, ”Boylan said. “It is pitiful that the Commission has not presented legislative proposals that consider water as a human right and a legal obligation throughout the European Union (…). Profits should not be made on public goods like water ”.



    Let's take a step back. In February 2014, the organizers of the Right2Water campaign attended a hearing in the environment committee. The result of the campaign is truly historic: 1.884.790 signatures.

    For MEPs, access to water is a fundamental human right, but some stressed that the rules on the supply of drinking water remain the responsibility of EU member states.

    Keep the water out of agreements Business. This is one of the most controversial points. MEPs predict that the production, distribution and treatment of water and sanitation should remain excluded from the Concessions Directive in any future revision. Furthermore, the special character of water and sanitation, as well as production, distribution and treatment, makes it imperative to exclude them from any trade agreements the EU is negotiating. Among these is the controversial TTIP.

    The free trade treaty between States United e Union European at the moment it does not foresee the safeguard from possible privatizations.

    According to Countryside Stop TTIP, Brussels

    “Defines public as the services provided in the exercise of governmental authority, that is, neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with one or more service providers. These formulas make it possible to exclude from the negotiation only those sectors which are exclusively pertinent to the public authorities, that is air traffic, the administration of justice, public order and defense ”.

    I fears therefore concern the fact that water, in violation of the referendum of 2011, could be on the TTIP negotiating table. The report approved by Strasbourg, however, represents a strong political indication for the negotiators, since



    “Urges the Commission to grant one legally binding exclusion for water, sanitation and sewage services from ongoing negotiations for the Transatlantic Partnership on Trade and Investment (TTIP) and the Agreement on Trade in Services ".

    Francesca Mancuso

    READ also:

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