Representatives of European trade unions will attend a hearing in the European Parliament next month in the next stage of the campaign to enshrine access to water and sanitation services as a human right. Later this month, the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), which led the campaign, will hand over more than 1.7 million signatures in support of the policy from citizens in 25 EU member states.

The campaign is the first successful use of the ‘European Citizens Initiative,’ introduced under the Nice Treaty. The initiative obliges the European Commission to consider demands that attract over a million signatures from a range of EU member states.

EPSU will outline practical steps, including preventing the privatisation of water and sanitation services, when it meets European parliamentarians in February. It hopes to get a response from the Commission in March – perhaps in advance of ‘world water day’ on 22^nd March.

IMPACT is one of 265 unions, representing over eight million public servants, affiliated to EPSU.