Country & City Focus

Hands off ABC Napoli !

In January this year, the transformation of ARIN S.p.a^[1] into ABC Napoli^[2] was concluded, ending a cycle of struggles which started 10 years ago, when the resolution of 23 November, 2004 allowed the private sector to manage the integrated water services of the entire ATO2 district in Southern Italy (comprising 136 communes from the provinces of Naples and Caserta in the Campania region).

The committees of Naples and Caserta, the public water committees together with a widespread citizen movement fought and obtained the withdrawal of the resolution. Since then we have repeatedly asked the Municipal Administration of Naples to start the transformation of the corporation into a special public company in order to eliminate the pursuit of profit and the potential sale of ARIN shares to the private. What the former Municipal Council under Mayor Iervolino and Budget Councilor Realfonzo were unable to achieve after the referendum victory, now became possible and the present Council (Mayor De Magistris and Branch Councilor Lucarelli) put in place the transformation. Naples is the first city in Italy to have re-municipalized its water service.

Running water in Aprilia: Deeds and Misdeeds

Deeds and Misdeeds
Running water in Aprilia: a never-ending course of justice

In this thriving town in Southern Latium (ATO4 district), the privatization of water and water services drove the local people to exasperation when they were unexpectedly hit by a 50% to 330% increase in their water bills. The reaction was instantaneous: a committee was established to protect the most valuable resource of all and a strategy to oppose this form of looting was defined. A harsh battle began, and is still going on, marked by many ups and downs. The moral of the story is that unity and participation are better weapons than intimidation, no matter what form it takes or where it comes from.

Berlin Water back in Public Hands

The deal between the Berlin Government and Veolia seems to be finally negotiated: For 590 M€ (+54 M€ extras) Berlin will buy back the 24,9% shares of the Berlin Water Company (BWB), which have been in the hands of Veolia since 1999. After RWE had sold its shares (24,9%) for 658 M€ in 2012 the biggest municipal PPP-Project in Germany has come to an end.

This is a big success for the 666000 Berlin citizens who opened the way to this remunicipalisation by a referendum in 2011, the first one ever won in Berlin.

Proposal for a new water management model in Madrid

The Plateforma contra la privatización del Canal de Isabel II initiated a debate on the water management model of the Canal within the framework of the Campaign for Transparency. They involved organizations, trade unions, 15M assemblies, political organizations and the public to find an alternative model, which could be defended before the current PP government or before future governments.

River Ebro Challenge

We, people from the Ebro Delta Region in south Catalonia, would like to invite you to acknowledge and support our campaign to protect our river, its Delta and ecosystems and our livelihoods. The Ebro Delta is one of the most important wetland areas in southern Europe, but is extremely fragile.

We have handed in a Petition to the European Parliament in order to ask politicians to take action against the Ebro River Management Plan which, as it is formulated now, would cause an environmental disaster and the disappearance of 80% of the territory in 50 years.

The Ebro River Management plan draft is affected by economic fraud, technical incoherence and a serious lack of democracy in its elaboration.

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