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A campaign group, which opposes the privatisation of water, has received backing from four out of five candidates for European Commission President.
Right2Water, which wants legislation to ensure water services will not be privatised in the EU and that access to clean water is viewed as a human right, had its proposals rejected last week by the Commission.
However, with less than 60 days to go before the European elections, Right2Water approached all the candidates for the European Commission Presidency to ask for a commitment to implement a human right to water and sanitation in the next legislature.
The candidates of the Greens Ska Keller, the Social-democrats Martin Schulz, Christian-democrats Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Left Alexis Tsipras came out in full support for Right2Water.
Guy Verhofdstadt, the liberal candidate, was the only one not to commit to the proposals.
Right2Water was the first campaigner to reach Brussels via the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which gives citizens the chance to ask for European legislation, if they can collect one million signatures in support of their plans. Right2Water amassed 1,659,543.
Jan Willem Goudriaan, vice president of Right2Water, said that the support of four out of five “political families in Europe” was “indicative” of the level of support for its demands.
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