We reject the attack of the Spanish government to the autonomy of local power and remunicipalisations

(11 May 2017) The European Water Movement (EUWM) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) is campaigning for the Spanish government to stop putting barriers in the way of re-municipalising water companies. The government has presented a proposal in the budget to amend the law that should be rejected. Please act and send the below message in Spanish to the Minister of Finance.

As previously reported, the success in Slovenia, where the human right to water has been included in the constitution, is now followed by a movement in Spain, where several major cities are making the right to water a reality. They want to do this by bringing back the management and ownership of water companies into public hands. The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), the initiator of the European Citizens Initiative Right2water, and together with the European Water Movement, welcomes this move to bring water companies under public control. It is a step in the right direction. The company can operate under social and democratic supervision and on a non-for-profit basis.

The current Spanish government is taking steps to stop local authorities from exercising their democratic right to publicly run water services. The draft budget proposal includes an additional disposition (number 27) that will become a Trojan horse against remunicipalisation and local autonomy. It will stop the transfer of those workers previously in the private sector into the new public body. This would lead to a loss of expertise and create a lack of skilled workers. This is an attack on workers’ rights and citizens’ rights.

Therefore we call on you to write to the minister of finance Sr Cristóbal Montoro: cristobal.montoro@congreso.es

with the following message in Spanish,

Estimado Señor Ministro,

Por la presente le manifiesto mi rotundo rechazo a la Disposición Adicional 27 de la ley de Presupuestos de 2017 que, de aprobarse, supondrá una drástica restricción de la democracia local y la imposibilidad de avanzar en la implementación del derecho humano al agua en su país y por lo tanto en Europa ya que supondrá un freno a los procesos de remunicipalización.

Atentamente,

Zum Beitrag auf right2water