Monitor Water Privatization

WDR, German public TV broadcasted a 8 minutes video as a part of Monitor program in December, exposing the Commission’s push for privatisation in Greece and Portugal, via the Troika. It features the Concessions Directive that Michel Barnier, the Commissioner of Internal market, is trying to get through the European Parliament now. Barnier contradicts himself on whether or not the Commission pushes for privatisation and he makes an interesting comment on an expert group on water issues, that he agrees is corporate-dominated. Some quotes from the video: “The most important political changes are sometimes hidden in the details. Veiled in a European regulation the European Commission tries to accomplish the project of a century. At stake is nothing less than privatisation of the water supply all over Europe. If the Commission succeeds, a public good will become an investment opportunity with prospects for billions of profit in Germany alone. It is a victory of big multinational corporations who fought a long time for this privatization. The consequences for us consumers could be tremendous“. “The idea of the Commission: water licenses have to be tendered thought out the EU. But this will benefit private companies because with the dumping prices of big corporations, municipal operators can not compete“. “82% of Germans want the water supply to be organized by the cities and municipalities“.