ABVAKABO FNV Trade Union (Netherlands): “A dignified life starts with water”

President of the Party of European Socialists (April 2004-November 2011)

Mayor of Brussels (Belgium)

Finnish Arch Bishop: "Water is the source of life. Water is also the most crucial of all the necessities of life. By defending the right to water, we defend the right to life without conditions. Using water as a means of gaining profit violates against the sanctity of life created by God."

Mayor of Naples (Italy): "Diviene progressivamente centrale un'efficace gestione dei beni comuni, intesi quali acqua e servizi pubblici, attraverso forme di accesso e di gestione condivise, con la partecipazione dei cittadini. Stiamo lavorando a un testo costituzionale europeo più attento ai diritti della cittadinanza, i cui contenuti si svilupperanno attraverso il lavoro dei sindaci, delle rappresentanze istituzionali dei territori, ed il coinvolgimento della cittadinanza attiva." "It becomes ever more necessary to establish effective ways of managing common goods, such as water and public services, through new participatory forms of access and management, with citizens actively involved. We’re working at a new European Constitution, closer to citizens’ rights, to be developed through the efforts of all mayors and institutional representations of territories and through the engagement of active citizenship."

Adjointe au Maire de Paris et Présidente de "Eau de Paris": "Au-delà de la catastrophe sanitaire, le manque d’eau contraint toute possibilité de développement économique, social et démocratique. L’inégalité dans l’accès à l’eau constitue l’une des plus grandes injustices, frappant les plus pauvres et les plus démunis socialement, et tout particulièrement les femmes. L’eau, essentielle à l’ensemble des écosystèmes, est notre bien commun, et doit être gérée dans l’intérêt général, dans le cadre d’un vrai service public. C’est pourquoi j’appelle à la mobilisation des citoyens européens, pour que le droit à l’eau, devienne enfin une réalité pour tous !"

Executive Director of Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF), Netherlands: “We might want to make remark how important this human right to water and sanitation is especially for women, especially in developing countries and countries in transition, that it is often a question of life, death, illness and violence against women, and that we are VERY concerned that its some of the rich countries in the north, were sanitation is not a question of death, illness and violence, which are trying to turn back this new human right, which was agreed in 2010 by the UN general assembly”

Deputy General Secretary IMPACT Trade Union (Ireland): "I sign for the right to water"

Adjoint au maire de Paris, chargé de Paris Métropole & des relations avec les collectivités territoriales d'Ile de France : "L'eau est à nous"

Secrétaire Générale, OBUSSAS – Observatoire des Usagers de l’Assainissement en Ile-de-France: « Alors que l’ONU a reconnu le droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement comme un droit fondamental de l’Homme, il est plus qu’urgent qu’en France comme en Europe le droit à l’eau devienne une réalité pour toutes et tous. »

Member of the Socialist Party, Netherlands

President of the water board "Amstel-Gooi-Vecht", Netherlands: "Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht maakt zich sterk voor veilig en schoon water en sanitatie in haar gebied, maar ook door langdurige samenwerking ver buiten onze grenzen. Goed water en sanitatie is cruciaal voor alle leven waar ook ter wereld"

Mayor of Ljubljana : »Ljubljana je mesto, ki se lahko pohvali s čisto pitno vodo, in na to smo zelo ponosni. Na mestne ulice smo celo postavili javne pitnike ter tako našim meščanom in obiskovalcem v toplejših mesecih omogočili brezplačno odžejanje. Ker se zavedamo, da je kakovostna voda javno dobro in človekova pravica, ne sme preiti v upravljanje zasebnikom. Zato bomo v Ljubljani zagotovili, da voda ostane dostopna vsem.« "Ljubljana is a city that boasts of having clean drinking water, and this is something we can be proud of. We have even set up drinking fountains on the city streets and thereby enabled our residents and visitors to have a drink free of charge in the warmer months. As we are aware that good-quality drinking water is a public good and a human right we cannot allow it to be privatised. Therefore we in Ljubljana will ensure that water remains accessible to all".

Austrian State Secretary: "Wasser ist ein Grundbedürfnis. Jeder Mensch soll täglich mindestens drei Liter Wasser trinken. Jeder von uns möchte aber qualitativ hochwertiges Wasser. Das heißt, die Wasserversorgung muss in öffentlicher Hand bleiben. Denn nur dann ist die gewünschte Qualität gesichert, die wir gerade in Österreich so gewöhnt sind. Deshalb bin ich Botschafter der Europäischen BürgerInneninitiative!"

Founding member of the Italian Forum of Water Movements and one of the promoters of the successful 2011 Italian referendum against the privatization of water utilities: "Firstly, this is a matter of civilization. Universal access to water and sanitation is a basic human right, recognised by the UN General Assembly: now we ask the EU to act in line with this position, embracing and implementing such a fundamental right. This means stopping and immediately reversing the privatization of water utilities and the resulting commodification of water itself. But this is also a matter of democracy: the people of Europe should decide, and not the Troika, which follows the destructive prescriptions of neoliberal economics and exploits the crisis to destroy social rights and to privatize common goods and public services. Two years ago, in a popular Referendum, 27 million Italians voted against the privatization of water utilities and of local public services. This overwhelming victory shows us clearly that there is no such thing as a pre-ordained destiny: if we have the will, if we are capable of organizing, then we can defeat neoliberal policies. That is why it is now so crucial to sign and support the ECI on water, as the ECI is the first tool - however weak - of direct democratic participation provided at the European level, which gives voice to the people on what type of Europe we want: a Union based on real democracy, universal rights, common goods and public services for all. As citizens we can sign the ECI and become “legislators”, because we have no intention of letting the financial markets and the economic powers decide what our future should be"