Post Tags: Water

European Parliament Committee Supports the Human Right to Water

Brussels – The Committee on the Environment of the European Parliament voted today on a report about the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, as a result of a campaign that gathered nearly two million signatures from across Europe. Members of the European Parliament confirmed their strong support for the human right to water.

“European citizens have time and again spoken out in favour of water as a human right and a common good. Whenever asked, they have massively supported public water management,” said David Sánchez, Campaigns Officer at Food & Water Europe. “MEPs in the Committee on Environment are asking the European Commission to act accordingly. We expect the Parliament’s Plenary vote in September to confirm this result and the Commission to finally listen to EU citizens.”

By approving all the compromise amendments, the Committee: 

  • Considers it regrettable that the European Commission’s answer to the ECI lacked any real ambition and calls on the Commission to come forward with legislative proposals to make the human right to water a reality.
  • Considers that water is a public good, vital to human life and dignity, and should not be treated as a commodity.
  •  Rejects water cut-offs and the forced switching-off of the water supply as a violation of human rights. 
  • Expresses its concern about countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece or Ireland, where water services are still being privatized and calls the European Commission not to push for water privatization in the context of austerity measures.
  • Notes the growing trend of remunicipalization of water services around Europe.
  • Calls on the Commission to permanently exclude water, sanitation and wastewater disposal from internal market rules. – Considers it imperative that production, distribution and treatment of water and sanitation are excluded from any trade agreements, including TTIP and TISA.
  • Highlights the importance of public-public partnerships as a non-profit model of cooperation among water operators.
  • Demands that EU development policies should fully integrate universal access to water and sanitation based on not-for-profit principles and solidarity.
  • Insists that water, sanitation and hygiene in developing countries should be given high priority and water should be also be a priority in the Sustainable Development Goals and the COP21.

Contact: David Sánchez, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org F

For First Time, A Majority of MEPs Vote for An Immediate Moratorium On Fracking, But Final Version of ‘Energy Security Strategy’ Report Ultimately Rejected

Brussels – During today’s vote on the ‘Energy Security Strategy’ report of the European People’s Party (EPP) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Saudargas, a majority of MEPs (338+/319–/42o) voted in favour of an immediate moratorium on fracking given its negative environmental impacts. Food & Water Europe considers today’s vote a milestone for the European anti-fracking movement, even though the final version of the Saudargas report failed to gather the necessary votes to be officially adopted by the European Parliament (277+/315–/111o). This surprising final vote is the direct result of 75 EPP MEPs rejecting and 93 EPP MEPs abstaining from the report of their own EPP colleague Saudargas in order to support fracking and shale gas. The results of this vote clearly show which MEPs are supporting the efforts of Big Oil & Gas to keep the pipe dream of shale gas in Europe alive.

“Today’s vote in the Parliament provides a clear indicator that the public acceptance for the fracking industry is crumbling across the EU,” said Food & Water Europe Director of EU Affairs Geert Decock, “We concur with the Parliament’s view that a long-term investment in shale gas threatens the ambition of the EU to decarbonize its economy by 2050”.

Contact: Geert De Cock tel. +32 (0)2 893 10 45, mobile +32 (0)484 629.491, gdecock(at)fweurope(dot)org

European Commission Shale Gas Research Conference

Brussels — Today’s event, organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, fails to ask the question whether or not shale gas should be developed at all in Europe, according to Food & Water Europe. Instead, the Commission assumes future large-scale development of shale gas in the EU as its starting point, exploring how research and certain policies can facilitate its extraction.

Together with many anti-fracking groups across the EU, Food & Water Europe strongly rejects this point of departure and firmly believes that the emerging body of research about the negative climate, environmental and public health impacts of fracking makes an urgent case for a ban on fracking. In the ‘make or break’ year of the Paris climate summit, it is unacceptable that the link between climate change and unconventional fossil fuels like shale gas is not even mentioned on the conference programme.

“A conference about shale gas research that does not engage with the pressing question of whether or not such unconventional fossil fuels are compatible with science-based climate targets starts with a false premise,” said Food & Water Europe Director of EU Affairs Geert Decock, “An emerging body of research has started to document the negative climate, but also environmental and public health, impacts of fracking, which the Commission fails to properly engage with”.

Contact: Geert De Cock tel. +32 (0)2 893 10 45, mobile +32 (0)484 629.

Energy Union Drops Idea of Communication on Promoting Domestic (Shale Gas) Energy Sources

Brussels — Food & Water Europe welcomes that the European Commission dropped the idea of a “Communication on promoting domestic resources — including progress on shale gas”, which was announced by Commissioner Arias Cañete two weeks ago during the Latvian presidency conference on the Energy Union in Riga.

The weak emphasis on shale gas and other unconventional fossil fuels in the Communication reflects a growing realisation inside the European Commission — following a series of disappointing experiences with fracking — that this potential fossil fuel resource is unlikely to address any of the EU’s energy challenges: import dependency, decarbonisation, technological leadership, green jobs, etc. The Energy Union Communication now called shale gas “an option, provided that issues of public acceptance and environmental impact are adequately addressed”.

“Finally, the Commission is turning away from echoing the hype about shale gas, promoted by Big Oil & Gas,” said Food & Water Europe Director of EU Affairs Geert Decock, “One year ago, its Communication on shale gas projected that 10 percent of EU energy demand in 2035 could come from shale gas. Now, shale gas is just ‘an option’, with a number of important caveats about environmental impacts and public acceptance”.

Contact: Geert De Cock tel. +32 (0)2 893 10 45, mobile +32 (0)484 629.491, gdecock(at)fweurope.org

The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking

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Learn more in the report.

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“In many ways, fracking is the environmental issue of our time.

“It’s an issue that touches on every aspect of our lives — the water we drink, the air we breathe, the health of our communities — and it is also impacting the global climate on which we all depend.

“It pits the largest corporate interests — big oil and gas companies and the political leaders who support them — against people and the environment in a long-term struggle for survival.

“It is an issue that has captivated the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, Europe and across the globe. And it is an area in which, despite the massive resources of the Frackopoly — the cabal of oil and gas interests promoting this practice — we as a movement are making tremendous strides as our collective power continues to grow. As this report lays out, there is mounting evidence that fracking is inherently unsafe.

“Evidence builds that fracking contaminates water, pollutes air, threatens public health, causes earthquakes, harms local economies and decreases property values.

“We first made the case for a ban on fracking in 2011, but this report shows that there is an urgent case for a ban. The evidence is in, and it is clear and overwhelming. Fracking is inherently unsafe, cannot be regulated and should be banned. Instead, we should transition aggressively to a renewable and efficient energy system.” — Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe

The European Commission Forgets About the Human Right to Water

Brussels – The European Commission has published the statistical results of the public consultation on the Drinking Water Directive [1], their flagship reaction to the first successful European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) on the human right to water and sanitation. According to Food & Water Europe, the review of this Directive, the only major initiative about water included in the Commission’s Working Plan for 2015, does not address the demands of citizens who support the human right to water.

David Sánchez, campaigns officer at Food & Water Europe said, “Despite their propaganda, the answer of the European Commission to the first ever successful ECI was just a compilation of already ongoing actions. And the public consultation on the drinking water directive simply does not address any of the demands of the 1,8 million European citizens that supported the initiative. Even worse, this is the only major action about water in their agenda for 2015.”

The demands of the ECI on the Right to Water [2] included implementing the human right to water and sanitation as approved by the UN in 2010; excluding water services from liberalization; and increasing EU efforts to achieve universal access to water and sanitation. The Commission only responded positively to the need to achieve universal access to water and sanitation.

Sánchez added, “With their attitude, the European Commission is doing its best to disappoint the expectations of the massive number of citizens that mobilized using this new tool, the ECI, implemented as a way to make the European Union more participatory and more accessible to the people. If the Commission continues in this manner, it will just broaden the gap between Brussels-based politicians and European citizens.

The European Commission is still analyzing the answers to the open questions in the consultation, the only space available to remind the Commission about the real demands of the ECI. The European Parliament is also currently working on a report on this initiative, which should be up for a vote in the coming months.

Contact: David Sánchez, Campaigns officer, Food & Water Europe, +32 (0) 2893 1045 (land), +32 (0) 485 842 604 (mobile), dsanchez(at)fweurope.org

[1] The statistical report of the consultation can be checked here

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/pdf/results_drinking_water.pdf

[2] More information about the European Citizen’s Initiative on the human right to water and sanitation

http://right2water.eu/