Just one year ago we were arguing about how Spain was still resisting the last wave of water privatization, as a result of austerity policies and debt, seasoned with corruption scandals.
But as a result of the local and regional elections a year ago, the tide changed. As a reaction to the long-term crisis, attacks to public services and corruption in traditional parties, many citizen movements organized to run for the elections, with great success in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Ferrol, Santiago, Cádiz, Coruña and Valencia, among others.
One of the key achievements of those movements was to introduce in the public sphere the debate on how to manage public services, like water. By the end of 2015, 57 percent of the population in Spain received their tap water from a private operator. One of the most worrying consequences is that more than 500,000 families receive water cut off warnings every year, according to data from the Spanish public water companies association.
The European Union is one of the biggest importers of fossil fuels in the world and the second largest importer of natural gas. Norway and Russia are currently the most important exporters of natural gas to the EU. Beyond the political and economic pitfalls of such dependence, climate science is clear that we must keep the vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground. The European Commission, however, is holding up liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the answer to the question of how Europe will meet its energy needs. This is short-sighted and wrong.
When negotiating major trade agreements, the European Commission seeks formal input about the impact of these agreements on the economy, human rights and the environment. It does so by commissioning a Sustainability Impact Assessment. For the ongoing negotiations about the EU-US trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), they entrusted Ecorys with this task. The consulting company just recently published its 
Some folks might still think that the people can’t really change politics or don’t really have an impact on the decisions of politicians and companies. I don’t! Not because it is easy to work for a change but because it is hard. Not because I like to negate the reality of the political and economical interlinkage but because I know that the people always have the ultimate power … if they were only willing to exercise their power more frequently.