Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-09-07-Speech-1-427-000"
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"en.20150907.30.1-427-000"2
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"Madam President. The Right2Water European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) was the first successful example of this democratic mechanism and it reached almost double the minimum requirements with a staggering 1.8 million signatures.
It is clear that the human right to water is an issue of great importance for citizens across Europe. Ownership and management of water services are clearly key concerns for citizens and cannot be ignored.
In my home country, Ireland, which you will be familiar with yourself, Madam President, the introduction of flat-rate regressive charges has resulted in some of the largest protests the country has ever seen. Given that Ireland previously had what was considered one of the most progressive forms of paying for water, through general taxation, this anger is understandable. Irish people should not have to submit to an unjust double taxation, which will also affect the poor the hardest.
In spite of the unparalleled success of this ECI, the official response of the Commission was vague, disappointing and did not properly address the demands of the Right2Water campaign. The response lacked ambition and ignored the key demands of Right2Water. In this report I have tried to better answer the citizens who are still waiting for proper action from the EU. It is pitiful that the Commission had not come forward with legislative proposals enshrining water as a human right and a legal requirement across the European Union. This was a key demand of the Right2Water ECI and it has been roundly ignored by the Commission so far.
I have called on it in this report to rectify the situation. I have recognised that the provision of water services is a natural monopoly, where competition amongst private operators has not worked, does not work and will never work. Water is a public good and should never be commodified. Profits should not be made on public goods such as water. All revenues must be reinvested into improving infrastructure of water service and not go to shareholders or executives’ pay. It is critical that the Commission respect the Member States’ right to organise their water services as they see fit.
Indeed, across the world, we have experienced a growing rise in the re—municipalisation of water services. In other words, water services previously run by private companies are being brought back under public management due to the abject failures of privatisation in the water sector.
I would like to express my thanks for the support from the Right2Water campaign itself and the support of MEPs in the more progressive Groups, but I am extremely disappointed with the EPP Group, which along with the ECR has produced an alternative resolution which strips the strong and progressive aspects from my report.
I can see that they have worked very hard to disguise their sham, but if anyone reads the two reports it is clear where their ambitions lie. They have worked wormholes through the report to weaken it beyond any recognition. Gone is any criticism of the Commission’s failure to respond to the campaign. Gone is the call for the human right to water to be enshrined in legislation, and gone is any criticism of the privatisation of water services.
They have removed the call for the Commission to remain neutral on the question of ownership and not to promote privatisation of water services. Indeed the whole motion is very private-sector-friendly, so much so that the original call for water services to be removed from TTIP is completely missing. They have deleted so many positive aspects of the report that it has gone from 37 pages to a 9-page document which reads more like an EPP position paper supported by the Tories than an honest response to the almost 2 million citizens who signed this ECI. It is a dishonest attempt to gag the voices of those who campaigned for the human right to water. Given that this was meant to be Parliament’s opportunity to respond to the Right2Water ECI it will reflect incredibly poorly on us as the supposed voice of European citizens if this alternative motion is passed, which is not supported by the Right2Water campaign. The ECI was meant to show citizens that the EU is willing to re-engage with them on matters which are important to them. If this alternative motion passes, then the ECI is dead in the water."@en1
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