Capital.gr reports, “Suez presented (the) company’s 5-year investment plan for EYATH said that (it) is planning investments of EUR 250mn in the Greek utility, which will create 2,000-4,000 new jobs. Suez is interested to acquire the 51% of the utility in cooperation with Ellaktor. The French conglomerate is also interested in Athens Water, where the difficulties are higher given that the assets belong to a different company (Athens Water Fixed Assets), unlike what is happening in Thessaloniki Water.”
Suez Environnement S.A. is a Paris-based utility company which operates largely in the water treatment and waste management sectors. While it is a stand-alone utility, GDF Suez remains the largest shareholder of the company with a 35 per cent stake. Its subsidiaries and holdings include Aguas de Barcelona (in Spain), Anderson Water Systems (in Canada), Australia Water Services, Bal-Ondeo (in Mexico), and United Water (in the United States).
Expatica.com has noted, “The sell-off of EYATH … is part of a long list of privatisations demanded by Greece’s European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors. The Greek state currently owns 74 percent of the shares of EYATH, the country’s second-largest water company.”
Our allies SaveGreekWater.org, Movement 136, SOSte to Nero, Watervolo and numerous other organizations have been campaigning to stop the privatization of the water utilities in Athens and Thessaloniki, EYDAP and EYATH. The Council of Canadians and the Blue Planet Project first expressed its solidarity in this fight in March 2012.
A Blue Planet Project report concluded, “There is no separate justification for the privatisation of the two water companies. Government uses the general rationale of needing to sell public assets to pay off the debt burden, because otherwise we won’t have ‘money for salaries and pensions’. This line is repeated as an excuse for every measure that the government, the Central European Bank and the IMF want to impose. We believe that privatisation will have the same results and impacts experienced elsewhere – namely, it will result in decreased access, higher rates and lower quality of service.”
And Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has commented, “The European Commission and the European Central Bank are using the financial crisis to promote an ‘austerity’ program that includes privatization of water services in a number of countries, including Greece.”
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has stated, “We deem that public commodities such as water or energy must remain under state control. The record of privatizations in other countries is quite negative. It encouraged profiteering in pricing and a dramatic decline in the living standards for the weaker members of society. But this undeniable fact tends to be omitted from public debate. What we need is public, economically sound and efficient public utilities.” The party has also committed, if it forms the government of Greece, to veto the Canada-European Union ‘free trade’ deal.
Last April, Capital.gr reported, “Four investment groups expressed interest in an international tender for the purchase of a 51 per cent majority stake in (the public water utility) Thessaloniki Water and Sewerage (EYATH), the privatisation agency said… The 51 percent stake in the utility has attracted the interest of:
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a consortium comprising France’s Suez and Greece’s Ellaktor (which is owned by Greek public works and media baron George Bobolas, as well as perhaps Actoris, a local construction company);
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a Greek-Israeli consortium made up of of GEK-Terna (a Greek construction and energy enterprise) and Mekorot (Israel’s water company);
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as well as Greek-Russian entrepreneur Ivan Savvidis (the owner of a Greek football club), and;
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a Thessaloniki citizens’ movement that is against the privatization of the city’s water company.”
On that last point, the Greek news agency Ana reports that, “Movement 136, a group of citizens opposed to the privatization of a company emerging in their public service, have declared their interest, offering a social management through cooperative neighborhood…”
Further reading
Suez, Mekorot among the companies bidding for Greek public water utility
Blue Planet in solidarity with Initiative 136 in Greece
Greece to fully-privatize Athens and Thessaloniki water under austerity program
The corporations seeking to operate Regina’s wastewater system
