Protests are taking place across Greece against a new law enacted by the conservative New Democracy (ND)-led government that includes water and waste management utilities under the regulatory authority for energy. Critics note that the move is in compliance with the EU directives to privatize water utilities in the country.
On Sunday, April 2, a massive demonstration followed by a music concert titled ‘Defend Water’ was organized by workers of the Thessaloniki Water Supply & Sewage Company SA (EYATH SA) and other trade unions at Aristotle Square in the city to denounce the legislation. Earlier, on March 20 and 21, protests were held in Athens and other cities across Greece against attempts to further privatize water utilities, like EYATH SA in Thessaloniki and EYDAP in Athens, along with other municipal utilities.
On March 21, the ND-dominated Greek parliament passed a bill to revamp the Energy Regulatory Authority as the Waste, Energy, and Water Regulatory Authority and expand its scope to include water and urban services. Progressive sections, including trade unions like the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), and legislators from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) opposed the bill, saying that it “has the clear aim of further privatizing water and waste management, a process that has been initiated for many years by the PASOK-ND-SYRIZA governments.”
Critics of the bill claim that inclusion of water and waste management under the energy regulatory authority strengthens the institutional and legal framework of the existing water privatization, and is part of the “requirements” under the EU Recovery Fund that Greece started receiving from last year, which must be implemented within the next six months. They allege that the role of the new regulator will be to price water according to “predetermined private economic criteria.”
While addressing the Greek parliament on March 20, KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumpas warned the government of the consequences of the bill “not only because the people will have to pay gold for water tariffs, but also because water quality will constantly be on the cost-benefit scale.”
“The KKE insists that water is a social right, it cannot be a commodity, because modernization is the satisfaction of all modern social needs and not the profits of the groups that all of you serve without exception,” he added.
