Right to water: Watch first European Parliament hearing for a Citizens' Initiative

Should access to good-quality water be a basic right? The 'water is a human right' campaign seeks to secure universal access to clean water and sanitation and opposes the liberalization of water services. The people behind the campaign will be taking part in the Parliament's first official hearing for the European Citizens' Initiative, which enables people to ask for new EU legislation. The hearing will take part on Monday 17 February from 15-18h30 CET. Watch it live here.

Right to water

The campaign collected nearly two million signatures in their quest to get all EU countries to provide their people with sufficient and clean drinking water and sanitation. The organisers of the initiative believe that these services should not be subject to internal market rules.

Citizens' Initiative

The Citizens' Initiative was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty and gives EU inhabitants who have the right to vote in European Parliament elections the opportunity to have their say on the EU's agenda. To be considered, an initiative must be backed by at least one million EU citizens, from at least seven of the 28 member states within 12 months of the registration date. It must also fall within the European Commission's remit.

Hearing

The hearing in the Parliament is organized by the environment committee, together with the petitions, internal market and development committees. The organisers of the initiative will present their objectives to MEPs and Maroš Šefčovič, vice-president of the European Commission. Watch it live by clicking here.

Room for improvement

The petitions committee discussed on 10 February the preliminary findings of a study on citizens' initiatives. Although they were seen as promising, members also acknowledged there was still room for further improvement. For example, they criticized that currently every member states requires different data from people who want to sign an initiative. One suggestion was to set up an interactive website where people can exchange ideas for possible citizens' initiatives and find counterparts in other EU countries to start one.

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