Constanze Mozart Director's Cut

Sister Water!

After weeks of controversy in the newspapers and thousands of mail boxes in protest of parliamentary deliberations ended, the majority voted the privatization of water. That this evil that is so, because - thanks to an amendment of the Democratic Party, passed the Senate - just dismissed the decree insists that the water is public property. What is privatization is rather its distribution, and here the question becomes more complex, so complex that it would have to require time and attention, but the government has cleared everything with the 26th confidence in 18 months, just to drown in the bud the dissent of the majority.

start with the general problems that in fact there: more than half of Italians do not have a sewage system, 30% of the water is dispersed and our sewer system is not worthy of a civilized country. There are several cases of waste and inefficiency - the Apulian aqueduct was greatly cited in the speeches in the House - but there are also several examples of good governance, regardless of whether operators are public or mixed, not always, in short, is a private management an efficient service, nor is it said that public is synonymous with failure. On the other hand, in Europe we have very different experiences: they are efficient and Germany (which has a public management of water resources) and France (which has a joint venture). Why, then, we have supported those who voted against this decree? Why not first create an independent authority that supervises the rates and services offered by private operators: the only concession was obtained approval of an agenda by the PD at its meeting on 18 November, during which is sent in the majority for 6 times, but we all know how little it's worth an agenda for a government that does not respect its international commitments. Inoltre, perché questo provvedimento obbliga i Comuni a vendere quote di società che gestiscono il servizio idrico, indipendentemente dall’efficienza dello stesso: è un regalo enorme fatto ad alcuni grandi gruppi privati, sia italiani (come Acea e Iride) che stranieri (come le francesi Veolia e Suez). E se cerchi Suez su Google, tanto per fare un esempio, scopri che un mese fa la città ungherese di Pécs “ha rescisso il contratto con la compagnia, accusandola di speculazione e di mancanza di trasparenza dopo avere riscontrato che le tariffe eccessive imposte sull’acqua andavano contro gli interessi dei residenti”. Se l’idea fosse stata quella di migliorare il servizio, insomma, saremmo stati disposti to discuss: the above guarantees, of course, but we also discussed. If it is to do a favor for some large company - or maybe throw it there, some strong power in the economy - we did not own, nor ever will be there.