Commentary
The Italian government proposed privatizing water, against voters’ will
If this amendment is approved, Italy would move towards the complete privatization of water services, with a predominant role of private entities and their market-ruled approach.
The right and the government are at it again. More than a decade after the 2011 referendum on water sources in which Italians voted to keep them public, a plan to permanently nullify this result continues to be at the top of their minds.
The operation of “dismantling” the popular will that had clearly voted for removing water from the logic of the market already began right after the referendum result, and all the governments that took office since have worked in this direction, albeit with different levels of intensity: from that of Berlusconi to those led by Monti, Letta, Renzi, Gentiloni and Conte.
Then, the Draghi government was the latest to move in the same direction, with the legislative decree on the reorganization of public services at the end of 2022, which undermined one of the most significant achievements derived from the referendum, namely the possibility of managing water services through Special Companies under public control which by their nature are outside the corporate and private sphere, and which had allowed the important development of the establishment of ABC Napoli.
The Meloni government intends to take a further step, which in practical terms would mean landing a decisive blow against the referendum result: an attack against companies fully owned by the state, with the idea of giving private businesses a share of ownership. The government wants to do this with the upcoming Environment Decree-Law, entitled “Urgent provisions for the environmental protection of the country, the rationalization of the procedures of environmental assessment and authorization, the promotion of the circular economy, the implementation of interventions in the field of reclamation, contaminated sites and hydrogeological instability.”
The initial draft of this decree contained a provision entirely unrelated to the subject matter, which stipulated that private capital could now own up to a 20 percent share in fully publicly owned companies. After the prompt backlash from the Italian Forum of Movements for Water, the decree approved by the Council of Ministers no longer contained this provision, but it has now been reintroduced with a proposed amendment by Senator Paroli of Forza Italia in the Environment Commission, which is currently examining the decree. If this amendment is approved, Italy would move towards the complete privatization of water services, with a predominant role of private entities and their market-ruled approach.
Of course, there’s nothing surprising about this approach, which is consistent with the economic and social policy line of this government. At its core are choices, disguised as sovereignism and cloaked in populist language, which are leading us into a new season of austerity that will hit the poorest classes, wagering on the prospect that strong overtures to the market and private capital, starting with international capital, could produce a new revival of economic growth.
However, the government must pay heed to the fact that the 2011 referendum result hasn’t become obsolete; instead, it has established itself as part of common sense, in the form of the widespread idea of water as a common good, essential for people and the life of the planet. And the situation we are facing as a result of climate change – with an increasingly frequent alternation between drought seasons and extreme flood events, putting the very future availability of water resources at risk – can only bolster this notion.
And we want to make the same point with regard to what Minister Pichetto Fratin announced for the beginning of the new year: a restart to “sustainable” nuclear power, to be achieved with small reactors. Once again, this would be a blatant violation of the 2011 referendum result on that issue.
The government must know that measures that undercut the popular will that was already expressed will not come without consequences from the social body. While the latter has certainly taken a beating due to the arrogance of the government and the attempt to depoliticize it, it is still able to react on fundamental issues that directly affect people's lives and futures.
At least, that is what we promise to make manifest, with a mobilization and all the tools that can be useful for the purpose.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/acqua-rispunta-la-privatizzazione on 2024-11-26