The decision of a Joint Oireachtas Committee to recommend a constitutional referendum to underpin public ownership of Irish Water has encouraged campaigners across Europe, according to the leader of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU). In an IMPACT blog marking World Water Day last month, EPSU general secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan said it was “big news for the European water movement” and “a huge encouragement for the many local and national groups fighting the privatisation of water services across the continent.”
The blog, authored with IMPACT deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan, notes that many local authorities in European countries like France and Portugal have brought water services back into public ownership after costly experiments in privatisation. The two leaders said World Water Day was an occasion to celebrate the huge contribution that decent water services make to public health and quality of life, and to highlight the opposition to privatisation that’s growing throughout Europe.
A trade union-led campaign for a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) on the right to water attracted nearly two million signatures from across the EU, and placed the issue on the EU’s legislative agenda at the behest of its citizens. The European Parliament has fully supported the ECI demands.
“Despite the clear message delivered directly by citizens through the ECI, and by their elected representatives in the Parliament, the European Commission fails to listen. In the case of Greece, where people rejected water privatisation, the Eurogroup has been forcing the government to sell shares in the Athens and Thessaloniki water companies,” according to the two union leaders.
“The Irish people have made crystal clear their desire to see water and waste water services remain in public ownership. Their instinct is supported by the overwhelming results of research that shows privatisation is a bad choice. Ireland has the support of Europe’s trade unions and the broader water movement, which is connecting the resistance to privatisation across European borders,” they wrote.
Read the full blog HERE.
