Uniting diversity to build Europe’s Right2Water movement

Introduction In 2013, the first successful European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), called “Right2Water,” collected 1.9 million signatures. This broad European civil-society initiative demanded that the European Commission implement the human right to water and sanitation in European legislation. The campaign was organized by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and supported by a large number of NGOs and water activists throughout Europe. The Right2Water movement campaigned against the European Commission’s intention to further privatize drinking water utilities in Europe, following the UK example. The European campaign faced a large diversity of contexts in each Member State of the European Union. The state of affairs regarding public or private governance of water utilities and those utilities’ performance differed per country. Moreover, awareness about the theme of “the human right to water” among the general public, grassroots federations, NGOs, and trade unions was also quite diverse. Water in Europe is subject to both European and national law and responsibility is shared between the European Union and Member States, making it a suitable issue for an ECI. The initiative aimed to shift the European Commission’s focus from their market orientation to a rights-based, people-oriented water-policy approach (Right2Water, 2016). The Right2Water campaign joined in the ongoing struggle for water justice that, in divergent ways, was framed and organized by many civil-society groups, and took a stance against profit-driven water companies with the slogan “Water is a public good; not a commodity!" It urged the European Commission that water services in Europe should not be liberalized. From April 2012 to September 2013, the ECI “Right2Water” collected signatures across Europe. In 13 countries, the number of signatures passed the EU threshold, which was set by the European Commission for making such peoples’ initiatives mandatory to be discussed by the European Commission (see Table 12.1); the first successful ECI ever. The ECI is a tool established by the Lisbon Treaty (EC, 2009) as a means to bring the European Union closer to its citizens. It gives people an opportunity to bring an issue to the European political agenda if they manage to collect over one million signatures in one year’s time, from at least seven countries, with a minimum for each country (EC, 2011).