How the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Water and Sanitation is a Human Right!’ Changed EU Discourse on Water Services Provision

Jerry van den Berge,Rutgerd Boelens,Jeroen Vos

doi:10.36633/ulr.568

Abstract

In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation in what is seen as a historical vote by water activists. Implementation of the right to water is imperative to achieve sustainable development. In 2011 the regulation for a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entered into force in the European Union. With such an initiative it is possible to propose an issue for European legislation by collecting one million signatures from citizens in at least seven Member States. The European federation of trade unions in the public services sector (EPSU) decided to take up the challenge to organise such an ECI and formed a diverse coalition of organisations and water activists that became known as ‘Right2Water.’ Their proposal was ‘to implement the human right to water and sanitation in European law.’ Although it was successful in achieving the required number of supporters, the European Commission answered that implementation of the human right to water was to be left to Member States and that there was no need to change existing legislation. The Right2Water movement aimed not as much to change legislation but more to challenge EU neoliberal policies and shift them from a ‘market approach’ to a ‘rights-based approach.’ This chapter looks at the factors that contributed to the success of ‘Right2Water,’ how the ideological debate around the human right to water took place during the campaign and the impact it had on EU discourse as well as on EU water policy.

Highlights

In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) politically recognized the human right to water and sanitation.[1]
Apart from the huge success in Germany, Right2Water achieved political results in Greece where activists organized a referendum against privatization of the water company in Thessaloniki and in Slovenia where the Constitution was adapted after the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI).[89,90]
Right2Water successfully claimed that fulfilment of the human right to water for all and privatization or liberalization of water services are incompatible; water services were exempted from the concession directive

Summary

Introduction

In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) politically recognized the human right to water and sanitation.[1]. Motivated to challenge the neoliberal economic model of a European single market and convinced that water and sanitation is the most important public service and an essential human need that should not be privatized,[5] EPSU chose the human right to water and its recognition by the UNGA in 2010 as departing point for an ECI.[6] A legal framework converts political intentions into enforceable rights and obligations, and legitimizes the demand of vulnerable actors for access to water and sanitation services It can move the discourse from one of charity to one of entitlement and force governments to prioritize these services, providing residents with a legal remedy.[7] The ECI was a new tool in the trade union’s continuous struggle for a social Europe. Our socio-political but critical engagement with Right2Water’s main objectives implies that in this chapter we do not claim an illusory objective scientific stance or pretend any other positivist expert view

Background

The European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Right2Water’

Debates around the human right to water and sanitation and privatization

Results and impact of the campaign

Discussion and Conclusion