Public Water Management Services Need "Committed Citizens"

TNI/MSP book on Alternatives to Privatisation interview

19 March 2012

Julio Godoy

IPSnews

BERLIN, Mar. 14, 2012 (IPS) - The trend of privatisation and commercialisation of water services, which set in in the 1980s and continued throughout the 1990s, has come to a halt due to the process’ own failures, and has given rise to a return of those services into efficient public management, according to a new book.

Released on Mar. 11, "Remunicipalisation: Putting water back in public hands" was authored by several activists at the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) and the watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in cooperation with several non- governmental organisations.

However, in an interview with IPS, the authors of the book warned that the European Union’s management of the present sovereign debt crisis in several member states is putting pressure upon certain governments to again privatise their water services.

"The world economic crisis that broke out in 2007 has somehow changed the picture of remunicipalisation, because of the financial sector bail-out, which has triggered the sovereign debt crisis in Europe," Martin Pigeon, expert for public services at CEO, told IPS.

"Now EU institutions, which seem unable, or unwilling, to understand the specificities of the water sector, are pushing very strongly the governments in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy to re-privatise their municipal water systems," Pigeon added.

This policy is a clone of the outdated and delegitimised structural adjustment policies of the 1980s and 1990s, he said.

For this and other reasons, Pigeon said that the remunicipalisation trend still needs "committed and vigilant citizens" participating in the process to master the multiple challenges the public water management sector is facing now.

Read the full article here.

Recent publications from Water Justice

Remunicipalisation After decades of failed water privatisation, cities like Paris are starting to bring water back into public hands. Download this free 'must-read' book for policy makers and activists looking to democratise water services.	Privatising Europe This working paper and infographic provide an overview of a great ‘fire sale’ of public services and national assets across Europe that is providing profits for a few transnational companies but is often fiercely opposed by its citizens.
Strengthening public water in Africa While both North–South partnerships and SouthSouth Partnerships have strengths and limitations, linking these in networked models is an effective way to mobilise expertise and funding and achieve success.	Agricultural Innovation: Sustaining what agriculture? For what European bio-economy? The Europe 2020 strategy's promotion of resource-efficient technologies and market incentives as the solution for sustainable agriculture is contradicted by experience where techno-fixes and market pressures have increased overall demand on resources.