The promotion of privatisation to tackle global water problems advocated by the European Commission has been rejected by 45 civil society and labour organisations from around the world, all of whom favour increased public-sector involvement.

In advance of  today’s World Water Day (22 March 2007), the World Development Movement (WDM) released a report which claims that public water provision, rather than increased privatisation as advocated by the Commission, is the key to solving the global water crisis. 

According to UN figures, 1.2 billion people around the world, mainly in Africa and other poor regions, are without access to safe drinking water and the crisis is expected to rapidly deteriorate. The EU's response has been the EU Water Initiative presented at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg (2002). 

But the coalition wants the Commission to stop using EU aid money to facilitate private-sector involvement in water and sanitation services in poor countries and drop requests for market access in the area of water services within international trade talks. The coalition calls instead for increased public investment in the water and sanitation sector, backed up by "support for the development of strong public utilities in the global South through 'public-public partnerships".

The Commission plans to organise a conference to assess the progress of the Water Framework Directive  - the main piece of legislation for water policy within the EU - and discuss further challenges.