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Welcome !

The European Water Movement is an open, inclusive and pluralistic network whose goal is to reinforce the recognition of water as a commons and as a fundamental universal right. We are united to fight against privatisation and commodification of this vital good, and to construct a public and communal management of water, founded on the democratic participation of citizens and of workers.

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EU Policy Focus

The European Water Movement coordinates lobbying for its members on policy issues such as the Human Right to Water and water privatization. Discover our positions and policy areas.

EU Policy Areas

Latest News

  • Manifesto for the protection of European deltas
  • Attack on the president of the Kruščica local community is an attack on all activists as well as an attack on the legal and constitutional order of BiH!
  • Inclusion of EYDAP and EYATH in the Superfund is unconstitutional according to the 4th Departement of the Council of State
  • 12 and 13 June 2011: the yeses win the referendum! 9 years have passed or 9 centuries ?
  • Turin : a new stop to the long march towards water remunicipalization
  • Letter to the investors of Tunsgtène du Narbonnais Company

Coronavirus emergency: National governments and European institutions must ensure access to water and sanitation for all

Brussels, 24 march 2020

Measures taken in Europe to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic are producing a state of exception where people are subject to several prohibitions and prescriptions. We must stay in and apply strict hygiene recommendations, which implies guaranteed access to water and sanitation services. However, in spite of this emergency situation, we have not yet read in the declarations of European institutions the most basic health and hygiene provision: access to water and sanitation for all.

If some European countries and regions have decided to suspend water cutoff, it is because there is a risk that water operators implement cutoff even in emergency situations, i.e. for families without incomes, occupations, roma and migrants settlements.

UN General Assembly Resolution 64/292 (July 28th, 2010) recognizes “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”. 10 years after, any State guaranteed this obligation to achieve the human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) at minimum level to guarantee the dignity of life.

But little has been done to guarantee the HRWS in Europe. In order to introduce the HRWS in European legislation, 1.884.790 european citizens signed the first European Citizens’ Initiative. Today 1 million people have no water access and 8 million people have no sanitation in Europe. It is time to act.

As European citizens claim and the normative development of HRWS indicates, water cutoff constitute a violation of the human right, even more dangerous for public health in the current context.

We therefore call national governments and European institutions for guaranteeing the human right to water and sanitation for all. This implies the adoption of various measures :

  • Water cutoff prohibition for all
  • Water and sanitation bill suspension during this crisis
  • Special attention to emergency situations such as non regulated supplies in occupations and migrant settlement
  • Guarantee of labour rights and hygiene conditions for water and sanitation workers
  • The cost of these measures shall not be borne by citizens but by the water and sanitation operators.

All these measures must be guaranteed through a specific mandatory regulation.

Such provisions are due in an emergency situation, but this is also the time for a systematic improvement of the pertinent normative, by the inclusion of these requirements in the water directives (in particular the Drinking Water Directive and the Water Frame Directive) and the introduction of the UN right to water in the European Charter. Drinking water supply and water resources management are consequently to be excluded from liberalizations and trade and investment agreements.

Effective implementation of the right to water and sanitation is an essential requirement of democracy, but it is also a beneficial and powerful tool for health and well-being of people, for preservation of the environment and, lastly, for economics. If not now, when?

European Water Movement

Contacts

Lucio Gentili - gentili.lucio (at) yahoo.it
Dante Maschio - dante.maschio (at) esf-cat.org

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Newsletters

  • Coordination Eau IdF - Mobilisation nationale
  • Save the blue heart of Europe - sept 2017
  • Coordination Eau IdF - 14 août 2017
  • Forum italiano - 20 marzo 2017
  • Coordination Eau IdF - 9 janvier 2017

European Citizens' Initiative

 

 Signature collection closed !

Focus on Greece

With the beginning of the Greek economic crisis, the publicly controlled water companies of Athens (EYDAP) and Thessaloniki (EYATH) were among the assets which were to be privatized according to the deal between the Greek government and its creditors.

After 2,5 years of struggle by groups in Athens (Save Greek Water) and Thessaloniki (Movement 136, Water Warriors, Soste to nero), two major events forced the government to stop. The one was the popular referendum in Thessaloniki (18 May 2014) where 98% of Thessalonians voted against the privatization of EYATH and the second was the Council of State decision 1906/2014 which ruled that the privatization of EYDAP is unconstitutional.

But the third memorandum deal pushes again for the privatization of water services. In the latest privatization plan there is a provision for the sale of 11% of EYDAP and 23% of EYATH (leaving just the 50% plus one stocks to the State) and there is a push for including the two companies in their entirety to a “superfund” which “does not belong to the public or broader public sector”.

Focus on Portugal

The Água é de todos campaign defends public water. To this end, in 2013 it launched a legislative initiative of citizens, «Protection of Individual and Common Rights for Water», signed by more than 44 thousand citizens, with a view to consecrating the right to water and preventing privatization. The project was rejected twice in Parliament, in 2014 and 2017. Only the PCP, BE, PEV MPs, joined in 2017 by those of the PAN, voted in favor. Therefore, the message of Água é de todos will continue to focus on the consecration and implementation of the human right to water, against the water trade.

Focus on Ireland

Despite several years of campaigning against the installation of residential water meters and against domestic water charges, the right2water Ireland campaign did not achieve in 2017 either the final cessation of the installation of meters, the abolition of charges which were just postponed, or the end of Irish Water. Moreover, the referendum to prevent the privatisation of water services has still not been held despite the unanimous support of the Irish Parliament. On the contrary, domestic water charges resurfaced in 2019, residential water meters continue to be installed and Irish Water is increasingly contracting out to the private sector, resulting in a deterioration of water infrastructure and water quality. A strong campaign for the right to water and democracy is more necessary than ever.

Reports & Publications

  • Destruction and Resistance in Hasankeyf and at Tigris
  • Comparison of water supplies and sanitation systems
  • Analysis of the difficulties accessing water encountered by households in arrears on their water bills in France
  • Dams and hydropower in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • FAMA 2018: Report of the self-organized activities

About Us

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