EUREAU and Federutility, the Federations that gather the Water Services Companies in Europe and in Italy, address their call to the candidates that will win the upcoming European Elections to be held on the 6th and 7th of June.

The Federations, reunited in Bari on the occasion of the 16th edition of the European Conference H2Obiettivo 2000, have signed a paper that will be handed to the Deputies that will be elected.

Below a brief account of the matters that the two Organizations intend to submit to the Candidates’ attention:

- Water is as important as Energy: Governments are advised to increase supranational politics of infrastructure development and resources planning, not only as far as Energy management is concerned, but also concerning water management.
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- It is urgent to reorganize and improve the services for water management and distribution. This would be an important opportunity not to lose, in order to offer valuable infrastructures to the whole community, both in terms of environmental protection and in terms of economic development, which is an aspect of paramount importance in the present critical global economic situation. It would be advisable to also establish a “Blue Economy” to accompany the already existing so-called “Green Economy”.

- A stable and non-contradictory legal framework should be established, not to be affected by different tendencies either oriented to the public or to the private interests.
The present situation of immobility should be overcome, since it transmits conflicting messages about Services of Public Interest offered to the community, coming from different sources such as the European Parliament, the European Commission or the Justice Court.

- It is advisable to begin drawing long term water management policies, avoiding to focus local interest on water fares only. Local communities are often the target of false promises about the reduction of water fares on the occasion of Local Elections Campaigns. These promises are just made for political goals only, at the expenses of service quality. The worst outcome of these behaviours is that the negative effects of these policies are bound to affect the whole community in the years to come.

The two Federations, EUREAU and Federutility regroup a large amount of services in the management of the water cycle in the various Countries of the European Union (serving more than 400 million citizens) declare their eagerness to help the new Deputies in approaching the above mentioned matters.
The Federations will offer support by the means of the well established technical and managerial know- how of their Associated Companies, acquired during their many years in the field of Water Services.

Contact Person :
Gregory MATHIEU, Communication Officer

g.mathieu@eureau.org

+32 2 706 40 80

+ 32 473 72 23 56