In recognition of the fact that around two million people in Europe still do not have access to water or sanitation services, EFFAT supports the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) on the 'Right2Water'.
Since 9 September the national branches of the right2water.eu campaign have been handing in the signatures collected to the respective national authorities. We are now demanding that the European Commission implement the human right to water and sanitation in European Union basic legislation.
The campaign is an undeniable success. The broad coalition of supporters that has campaigned throughout the 17 months since the application was submitted has collected about 1.9 million signatures across all 28 Member States.
The countries that have reached the minimum number of signatures required by legislation are: Finland, Lithuania, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
The ECI is of particular concern to the sectors represented by EFFAT, as the right to the responsible use of water for agriculture makes it possible to enable the right of all people to food.
Since April 2012, ECIs have existed as a forum for citizens to put the issues of importance to them on the European political agenda, by collecting one million signatures in at least seven member states.