The first European citizens’ initiative (a new participative democracy tool that started in Europe on April 1, 2012) is about to come to an end and is about Water. It aims to alter the priorities of European policy and the method of water services and sanitation, so they are considered as “essential to the realization of all human rights.” This goal should take priority over the liberalization of the sector. If, after verification, the initiative is validated, it will pave the way for a European public debate on the issue of water. (Ref. 130503)
To go through, a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), a right introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, needs to get at least 1,000,000 signatures. Besides, in at least 7 countries, a limit needs to be reached that varies with the number of inhabitants. To this day, the water initiative has gathered about 1,500,000 signatures and it seems that, in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Greece, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia and Slovakia, the national limits have been reach
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