Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) welcomes the fact that the petition “Water is a Human Right” is the first European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to meet the criteria set out in European legislation.
The petition, launched in spring 2012, has been signed by 1.5 million citizens from eight member states (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia). According to the EPSU, several thousand signatures are lacking to pass the minimum threshold in five countries (Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands). In other states (Portugal, France, Malta, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark), the campaign is in full swing and thousands of signatures have already been collected.
“The financial and economic crisis and the pro-privatisation drive have galvanised millions of Europeans to rally to support our effort to keep water and sanitation out of the internal market rules”, Jan Willem Gourdriaan, one of the organisers of the initiative, has said.
The issue is linked to talks on the proposal for a directive to frame concessions (see EUROPE 10771). The legislator is seeking a form of words that will unequivocally ensure that the future directive will not entail the privatisation of public services, such as water management. (MB/transl.jl)