WDR, German public TV broadcasted a 8 minutes video as a part of Monitor
program in December, exposing the Commission's push for privatisation
in Greece and Portugal, via the Troika.
It features the
Concessions Directive that Michel Barnier, the Commissioner of Internal
market, is trying to get through the European Parliament now. Barnier
contradicts himself on whether or not the Commission pushes for
privatisation and he makes an interesting comment on an expert group on
water issues, that he agrees is corporate-dominated.
Some quotes from the video:
"The
most important political changes are sometimes hidden in the details.
Veiled in a European regulation the European Commission tries to
accomplish the project of a century. At stake is nothing less than
privatisation of the water supply all over Europe. If the Commission
succeeds, a public good will become an investment opportunity with
prospects for billions of profit in Germany alone. It is a victory of
big multinational corporations who fought a long time for this
privatization. The consequences for us consumers could be tremendous".
"The
idea of the Commission: water licenses have to be tendered thought out
the EU. But this will benefit private companies because with the dumping
prices of big corporations, municipal operators can not compete".
"82% of Germans want the water supply to be organized by the cities and municipalities".