Citizens Right2Water Backed By EC Environment Cmtee.

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Right To Water campaigners secured vital victory today as the EU citizens initiative (ECI) on water was steered by Sinn Féin MEP, Lynn Boylan to a clear 38 to 22 vote victory at a meeting of the EU Environment Committee.

 Around 1.9 million citizens across Europe had signed up to back the EU's first ECI initiative, which aims to assert the ordinary citizen's right of to access to water - and thus counters an international trend towards neoliberal privatization in law and trade agreements.

 “I am especially pleased to see that my amendments excluding water services from internal market rules and trade agreements such as TTIP were successful," said Lynn Boylan - an Irish MEP for Dublin.

 The two-thirds margin of victory strengthens the hand of campaigners, and though the vote is not binding on the European Commission, the outcome makes it far harder to ignore opposition to the inclusion of water in international trade agreements such as TTIP.

[Source Links]

 http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/35429
http://bit.ly/Right2WaterECIDraftReportPDF
https://twitter.com/EP_Environment/status/613995214714327040
http://bit.ly/Right2WaterEUDebate
http://www.epha.org/a/5991

#Right2Water

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