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The most important political changes sometimes
come in the small print.
Secretly hidden in a guide line, the European Comission tries
to accomplish a mega project.
It is about nothing less than the european-wide privatization
of the watersupply.
If the EU-Comission succeeds, a public good might turn
to an object of speculation, with which also in Germany one could
earn billions out of it.
It is the victory of big mutlinational corporations that have fought for
this privatization for years.
he effects for us customers could be immense.
what we are going to face here, will be shown to you now by Stefan Stuchlik and Nicolas Steiner.
Water is not just H2O,
water is life.
Access to water has been declared a human right by the United Nations.
In Germany, water normally belongs to the cities and municipalities,
so all of us - still.
But that could change soon. With drastic consequences for
Germany.
The intention of the European Commission, it will begin here,
in Portugal.
Brussels demands that the country will sell its water supply.
Here, in Pacos de Ferreira one began with the privatization of water already.
Against the will of the citizens, as they tell us.
Citizens "In the past you could drink the water here. It was good, fresh water!Not anymore!"
"I'm 66 years old and have always drunk the water."
"Now we will not even drink the water from the public well."
"Yes, now is the public water not supposed to drink."
The Municipality of Pacos de Ferreira
on the sale made a profit only once,
now the citizens must live with the consequences. People show us their
bills:
And indeed,
the monthly amounts are horrendous,
many citizens now have problems paying their drinking water.
Humberto Brito, civic movement 6th November: "The consequences of privatization here in Pacos de Ferreira
were devastating.
We had a 400% price increase in a few years. And then again every year
6% price increase. This is a disaster."
treiben der Durchbruch
Crisis countries such as Portugal and Greece need money,
therefore the Troika in Brussels is forcing them now secretly
to sell their water supplier.
In the annex to the Troika contracts, MONITOR has obtained, you can see:
In Greece the great waterworks of Athens and Thessaloniki
shall be sold.
To Portugal the annex states
that the privatization of the national water companies "Aguas de Portugal"
should be promoted.
In Portugal, now more and more people protest against the
privatization of water,
because they are afraid of high prices
and poor quality.
But the crisis countries are just the beginning.
The EU Commission
now brings out the big blow.
The new proposal for the concession directive actually hid
the requirement
that the market for water supply should be opened up. What does
that mean?
Heide Rühle, the water expert of the European Greens, has studied the proposal
carefully.
She believes that the Commission is close to achieving its goal -
water privatization.The concession policy does not make it directly,
does not open the door directly to the privatization
of water, it makes it through the backdoor.
So it opens, one millimeter by millimeter, the possibility
that private companies enter the market, so that the market is opened up
and that private access to the market."
He even denies that he wants to privatize the water at all:
the powerful EU Commissioner Barnier said that his policy would only reorganize
the market."It's going to stay the way it is."
Yes, why do we need the directive then?
"Because we need rules. Each German municipality will continue
to decide on their water, but now we give it the opportunity to hand the water over to
a private partner,
which this will be also regulated, for the benefit of the consumer."
So there it is.
The idea of the Commission:
water licenses have to be tendered throughout the EU. But then
it's the private partners turn.
Because with the dumping prices of big corporations, municipal operators
cannot compete.
This, while 82% of Germans want
the water supply to be organized by the cities and municipalities.
Here, cities and municipalities even draw back
single privatization.
Let's take the example of Berlin. In 1999, the water company was partially privatized.
After mass protests, the city has begun
to buy back shares,
an expensive way, but the first success for this citizens' initiative. But the
new strategy of the European Commission could negate this idea.
The new EU directive will
put everything under pressure for
privatization. And Berlin's experience shows that
even partial privatization, called a public-private partnership business,
in reality
only is for the benefit of the private companies. They have a guaranteed profit, and we pay.
For private investors, water is a commodity
like electricity or gold. Because water is an object of speculation, water is an
economic good. Analysts estimate the
water market in the EU at a three-digit billions sum.
And they want it:
big companies such as Thames Water and Veolia,
as well as German companies RWE and Gelsenwasser just waiting that
there will be privatized.
Water privatization seldom has the promised effects,
as a study by the University of Barcelona in 2010 confirmed.
In it, there is evidence
that after the privatization in some places the water quality had declined.
But most of all: it not became cheaper.
Quote:
"We cannot ... proof the effect
that private water production is cheaper."
Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Europe Observatory:"The promises which are always
associated with water privatization,better service, lower prices, are not kept as good as ever.
as ever.
On the contrary, there is a tendency to rising prices and the
promised investment into the water networks almost never become a reality."
Because money for the expensive network building
does not match the quick profit.
Examples such as London or Bordeaux show:
rotting pipes, dirt penetrates into the drinking water, the companies often then
add chlorine or similar, to maintain hygiene.
Why the EU Commission decides against the will of the European
population?
On what studies is this based?
Who it is talking to behind those windows?
For example, with them,
with the Steering Group.
A group of experts that advises the European Commission on issues of
water policy.
The list of participants is amazing,
it mainly includes representatives from the water industry and
and related sectors.
Sorry, are on the list:
Michel Barnier,
European Commissioner
for Internal Market:
"I have not collected this group of experts in person,
but if you want me to say that our expert groups
should be more balanced, I can agree."
Christian Ude, President of the German Association of Cities:
"It's really unfortunate
that some competition commissioner
only knows the needs of his partner from the CEO floors
and not the needs of the population."
Water
a human right or water - a billion dollar business?
Brussels has already decided:
water in the future shall belong to the corporations
rather than
all of us.