Open source -- Europe's battle for basic water rights

The United Nations says we all have a basic human right to clean drinking water; but Europe isn't so sure. A new and highly successful Citizens' Initiative recently reached the European Commission. The Commission must now respond quickly, outlining its intended legislative plan. If the Citizen's Initiative is heeded by European Institutions, then Europe may soon declare that every citizen has right to water.

On the face of it, that's simple enough. The problem is getting national authorities to assign responsibility for the provision of water to citizens who are unable to pay. Making the issue more sensitive, single-minded supporters of the free market insist that water is not a public good, but essentially a commodity to be delivered and priced by private companies -- this they say, is the only way to ensure the necessary investment.

In this programme we look at why more than 1 million European citizens are currently denied access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Why is it that tens of thousands of families in Spain, Portugal, and Greece are disconnected from the water system, many remain disconnected for long periods of time. Europe does not have a single market for water, nor does it have a single social protection system for those unable to pay for water.

Commentators:

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Professor of Economics, University of Zaragoza
Bas Eickhout, Member of the European Parliament, Greens
Matthias Groote, Member of the European Parliament, Socialists & Democrats
Marisa Matias, Member of the European Parliament, United Left
Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President, and Commissioner for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration
Alda Sousa, Member of the European Parliament, United Left
Jerry van den Berghe, European Federation of Public Service Unions