Water, Transparency & Corruption

Together with a group of organisations that defend whistleblowers and the Whistleblowers International Network (WIN), EPSU has demanded the Ukrainian President to reverse amendments that would weaken a law that protects whistleblowers.

Aqua Publica Europea (APE) and EPSU met to discuss our ongoing cooperation. It was the first meeting with Bernard Van Nuffel since he was elected President of APE. He is also the President of the Brussels water operator, Vivaqua.

The European Public Service Union (EPSU) welcomes the vote on the Drinking Water Directive recast in the European Parliament (15 December) as a step forward to realise the Human Right to Water in the EU.

EPSU has signed an open letter to the upcoming Portuguese EU Council Presidency on corporate influence and transparency.

Press Release - EPSU welcomes the vote on the Drinking Water Directive recast in the European Parliament today as small step forward to realise the Human Right to Water in the EU.

Together with 90 other organisations EPSU highlighted the conflict of interest in the awarding of a public policy contract to BlackRock Investment Management in April this year.

A group of private water operators tried to block the discussion of the report on “The Privatisation of Water and Sanitation Services” of the United Nations (U.N.). 150 organisations including EPSU and PSI intervened to keep it on the agenda.

A group of organisations have sent a letter to European Commission President von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Timmermans, Vice-President Jourová, and Commissioner-designate McGuinness to urge them to address the matter of “revolving doors”

The UN Human Rights Council approved the appointment of Pedro Arrojo-Agudo as Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation.

After the remunicipalisation of water services in Mafra in 2016 (Portugal), another Portuguese town has announced now that is going public.

A new report commissioned by EPSU highlights the crucial role and often high-risk labour of the workers involved, who have largely been ignored in both research and policies relating to the circular economy.

In an open letter, which has received the support of 600 organisations from more than 90 countries plus European and international organisations, EPSU calls on governments and the EU to take action to prevent the wave of ISDS cases that put at risk an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Defenders of the public interest are often confronted with socalled gag lawsuits.

The European Commission adopted a European union circular economy action plan in March 2020. EPSU organised a discussion with Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Commissioner responsible.

The coronavirus pandemic has now infected more than 2 million people worldwide and caused over 145,000 deaths. Like so many other key workers, workers in the waste collection, water and energy distribution sectors are risking their lives