Today, the Plenary of the European Parliament approved the report on the European Citizen’s Initiative – Right to Water [1], as a result of a grassroots campaign that gathered nearly two million signatures from across Europe. The European Parliament called on the Commission to come forward with legislative proposals to make the human right to water and sanitation a reality. A majority of the Members of the European Parliament endorsed water as a public good, vital to human life and dignity, which should not be treated as a commodity.
“The European Commission cannot keep on ignoring the demands from nearly two million citizens, the European Parliament, the European Social and the Economic Committee for the implementation of a human right already recognized by the UN,” said David Sánchez, campaigns officer at Food & Water Europe. “Continued inaction would just result in a great loss of credibility for the European institutions.”
The report also demanded the European Commission to abstain from pushing for water privatization in the context of austerity measures in countries like Greece, and called on the Commission to permanently exclude water, sanitation and wastewater disposal from internal market rules and from trade agreements.
“Today’s vote marked a great victory for citizens. Now is the time for the European Commission to finally react,” added Sánchez.
Contact: David Sánchez, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org [1] http://right2water.eu/