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[box] Success for the ECI (European Citizens Initiative) on affordable and non-privatized access to clean water. This legislative initiative, an institution which was adopted at the Treaty of Lisbon, is the first successful attempt to collect among the European citizens 1,000,000 official signatures, (with passport number or ID), so as to call on the European Commission to initiate a legislative process. (Before of the implementation of ECI, only the commission had the right to initiate legislation at the European Parliament.) [/box]
[box]Perhaps now, that the Europeans have spoken up and declared, despite the technical and legal setbacks, that they do not want the water market creation and commercialization of their precious resource, the unelected Commissioners Barnier and Oli Rehn will begin to listen also to civil society apart from their friends of the Steering Group, consisting of executives of water corporations. Unless they regard themselves, emperors.[/box]
[box type=”warning”] Although the 1,000,000 signatures were collected, apparently they are supposed to consist of a minimum of signatures from 7 different countries… Greece has yet to catch this minimum which in our case is 16,500. Many have contacted us because they were not able to sign electronically. We alerted the organizers of the European Citizens Initiative about this so as to urge the EU In order to solve the technical problems since the software used for the process is theirs… As if it were not enough that civil society is required to run such an expensive and intricate in legal proceedings, procedure, they make whatever humanly possible to complicate it further.. Another reason for us to skyrocket signatures from Greece.[/box]
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EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES UNION
EPSU Press communication
11 February 2013
“One million signatures for Water as a Human Right !”
(Brussels, 11 February)
Yesterday, the first up and running European Citizens Initiative (ECI) ‘Water is a Human Right’ made history as also being the first ECI in the history of the European Union to have collected over 1 million signatures.
Anne-Marie Perret, President of the Citizens Committee says “Reaching this important milestone, with one Million EU citizens agreeing that water and sanitation are human rights, is a great success. We appreciate the support of so many and will continue campaigning to pass a strong message to the European Commission. We have also managed to overcome the start up problems, as well as the legal and technical barriers forced upon us by the European Commission and Member States.”
The ECI “Water is a Human Right” has been a success not just because more than 1 million people have signed but in terms of creating a real European debate. 2013 is the European Year of citizenship and we have manage to get more than 1.5 million visits to our website the month of January only. It has contributed to creating a space for a European debate in which many citizens are engaging.
The ECI will continue to collect signatures to ensure that the voices of as many people in as many different countries as possible are heard. On March 22rd we will celebrate World Water Day with well over a million voices against liberalization of water, and for the implementation of the human right to water and sanitation in the EU.
For more information: Pablo Sanchez, psanchez@epsu.org 0032 (0) 474 62 66 33
EPSU is the European Federation of Public Service Unions. It is the largest federation of the ETUC and comprises 8 million public service workers from over 275 trade unions; EPSU organizes workers in the energy, water and waste sectors, health and social services and local and national administration, in all European countries including in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood. EPSU is the recognized regional organization of Public Services International (PSI).
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[box type=”info”] The legal basis of the citizens’ initiative is set out in Article 11, Paragraph 4 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Article 24, paragraph 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Both articles were newly introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon.[/box]
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