G8: Evian Water Plans Undrinkable
PARIS (FRANCE), MAY 28, 2003 – French
President Jacques Chirac's plans for
improving access to clean water, due to be
put forward at the G8 Summit in France on
June 1-3, will not tackle the real problems
faced by developing countries, Friends of the
Earth International said today.
The French President's Plan to finance
‘access to water for all’ advocates a central
role for multinational corporations and the
World Bank. This Plan will be put forward in
a city famous for its bottled water, Evian
(France).
In reality, the Plan promotes European
water giant corporations at the expense of
the poor, according to Friends of the Earth
International.
European service providers dominate the
global water market. The world's top two
private sector water companies, Vivendi and
Suez (both French), control 70% of all
private water services between them. The
third largest is Thames Water, now part of
German utilities conglomerate RWE.
Helene Ballande of Friends of the Earth
France said:
“Access to water and sanitation are basic
rights that should not be regulated by the
invisible hands of the free market and the
interests of water multinationals but should
instead be decided democratically by the
people of each country.”
European Union (E.U.) countries also plan
to promote in Evian their own EU Water Fund
initiative.
“The E.U. Water Fund, to be presented at
the G8 summit in Evian, seems more about
corporate welfare than helping the world's
poorest. The EU plan builds on controversial
proposals by former IMF director Michel
Camdessus, to use aid money to subsidise the
expansion of private water corporations,"
according to Olivier Hoedeman of Corporate
Europe Observatory (CEO), a Friends of the
Earth affiliate group.
Confidential documents obtained by CEO
show how the EU’s executive European
Commission has worked in tandem with Suez and
other giant water corporations in developing
its international water initiatives. [1]
More than 100 organisations from across
the globe this week issued an 'Evian Water
Challenge' to the leaders of the four
European nations that make up half of the G8.
The organisations demand that France,
Germany, Italy and Britain halt their push to
carve up the world's water services for the
benefit of big business through a trade
agreement being negotiated across the lake
from Evian, at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) in Geneva.
Despite their rethoric in Evian, the
reality is that G8 countries are prioritizing
water companies protected by the WTO rather
than poor people and their right of access to
water, according to Friends of the Earth.
(ENDS)
Witnesses from Benin, Slovakia, and The
Philippines are available for interviews.
For more information please contact in
Evian:
Helene Ballande, Friends of the Earth
France +33-6-77 10 71 25
Olivier Hoedman, Corporate Europe
Observatory, +31-6-47974811
Notes to editors
[1] Read more in CEO's latest water
briefing : "Evian: Corporate Welfare or Water
for All?"
www.corporateeurope.org/water/infobrief6.htm
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