This afternoon, at 3 o'clock p.m., there will be a new clash in the Parliament between the majority and opposition. Because members will be asked to vote on the decree "Salva-infrazioni" on which the government has placed its trust. The decree also contains the Article 15, the liberalization of local public services, including water. And the opposition is ready for action, "the parliament has been humiliated."
The problem is not just that they put a maxi-amendment to a vote of confidence in parliament so to avoid the dialectic, but is the elimination of the debate on an issue, such as the privatization of water, which is very delicate. Because if the bill were to pass then the water service will be entrusted to a private with a public competition or just with the support of Antitrust.
At stake is not only the privatization of water, at stake is the parliamentary debate. Elio Vito, Minister for Parliamentary Relations, yesterday asked for the 28th time since the beginning of the legislature the trust on a decree. As telling, if we are the majority, we vote compact and we can not fall.
This method, adopted by the Popolo delle libertà (People of freedom), has nothing to do with freedom. The opposition's reaction was very tought with Angelo Bonelli, Green party, who wanted to ask for a "referendum" to say no to private water and Marina Sereni of the PD that says "A few large groups will do a roaring trade at the expense of citizens who will suffer an increase in water charges".
The opposition fears that the reliance on the private water service may lead to an increase in rates, but what is most frightening is the possibility that water will become the property of structures and private companies, as Leoluca Orlando said in a press conference. "Think about what will happen where there's the mafia, the Camorra, the 'ndrangheta, organized crime has been created just by controlling water in an area. The only difference is that now we will not have many little boss who might control wellwater in an estate, but multinational companies with the monopoly of water distribution in urban centers. This is a tragic mortification of democracy. "
Italy, according to the latest news provided by Federutility and contained in Blue Book 2009, has water rates among the lowest in the world. But the level is not uniform across the country, according to the study of Cittadinanzattiva, and in 2008, the cost of water has been an average increase of 5.4% compared to 2007, with double digit increases in 15 cities: in Campania (+34.3% in Salerno, +31.9% in Benevento), in Emilia Romagna (+21.4% in Parma, +10% in Ravenna), in Basilicata (+16.1% in Potenza and Matera), in Veneto (+16.3% in Padova and +12.3% in Verona), in Lombarida (+15.9 in Lodi, + 13.4% in Cremona), Piemonte (+14.5% in Verbania).
There's no need to implement the privatization of water. Also because, as Emilio Molinari, president of the World Water Contract, said in an interview to PeaceReporter, "Privatization in Italy has a binding specificity that was not requested by the EU. In addition to an act of privatization is therefore an authoritarian and uncostitutional act which deprives powers to municipalities and regions. "
It's hard to believe that in Italy will rise a protest similar to the one in Bolivia, in April 2000, when people took to the streets against the privatization of water, just because it is a right and if it is, it has to be guaranteed. This afternoon the majority and the opposition will be again face to face, there will be strong words and eventually, if the majority is that, it will vote in favor of this law. Meanwhile, in Puglia, the region has adopted a resolution that goes in the opposite direction. The principle was "Water is a common good, a universal human right not subject to market mechanisms," and from that principle the region has decided to remove from the market the company Apulian Aqueduct and to change the system of rates basing it also on family income.
The bill should be submitted by December from the Puglia Region and, by then, the government will have already decided what to do with our water.
Marianna Lepore
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