Strasbourg, 12/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption on Thursday of the report by Bill Miller (Labour, UK ), the European Parliament has opposed the opening up to competition of the water market, whilst welcoming the advantages of liberalisation of networks and service industries. The MEPs visibly chose to make this vote on priorities 2003-2006 for the internal market into a campaign instrument for the European elections. In fact, they adopted numerous amendments, some of which were contradictory, on social Europe and the liberalisation of markets, calling for roll call voting.
The resolution, which was adopted by 265 votes in favour, 68 against and 48 abstentions "subscribes unreservedly to the priority strategies of the internal market 2003-2006 as presented by the Commission". The EP "firmly subscribes to the raft of measures against the problem of the non-transposition and the non-application of several directives". It pleads for the Commission to impose "more systematic fines against the negligent Member States", and to carry out a study "into the needlessly strict interpretations of Community legislation".
The EP "stressed that the social dimension of the internal market strategy must be developed". It also states that "amongst the four freedoms of the internal market, the free movement of workers is the least developed, and there seems to be no ambition to increase it". However, MEPs rejected by a gap of twenty votes (169 in favour, 192 against) a socialist amendment regretting "the lack of interest for this social dimension" of the internal market.
The "Liberal" vein of the European Parliament won out overall, but it was often fairly close-run, in votes on issues to do with continuing to open the market up to competition. In a paragraph adopted by a majority of some ten votes, the resolution stressed the advantages of market opening in networks industries, and "favourably welcomes proposals to continue the liberalisation and market opening in other sectors, whilst respecting the obligations of universal service".
By 188 votes in favour, 209 against, the EP rejected an amendment by the United Left/NGL, which called for "impact studies into the social, environmental, employment and town planning consequences before any new stage in liberalisation". However, it retained a socialist amendment (201 for, 195 against) in which it "wonders, in light of experiences in the liberalisation of the electricity and rail sectors and taking account of the economic slump, whether this experiment should be pursued, despite bringing no avowed benefit: the EP feels that continuing the experiment should certainly be avoided in the fields of provision and treatment of water, where it detracts from the real problems and could even threaten the security of supply".
By a vast majority (20 votes in favour, 376 against), any outright reference to the liberalisation of water and the postal service was deleted. The United Left/NGL also managed to get (by 201 votes for, 161 against and 46 abstentions) an amendment through which recognises that "as water is a common good to humanity, the management of water resources should not be subject to the rules of the internal market".
Danielle Mitterand, Alex Zanotelli and Riccardo Petrella, who are involved in a world-wide campaign for water, sent an open letter to MEPs urging them to back this amendment. The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) welcomed the result in a press release. On the other hand, the Federation is concerned that by rejecting amendments in favour of Social Europe, the Parliament has taken position in favour of an "internal market serving only private interests, to the detriment of the interests of the general public".