Video Interview of Georges Archontopoulos, of the Thessaloniki Water Workers

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9th EPSU Congress, 20 - 23 May 2014 - Toulouse - Day 3

(Thursday, May 22, 2014) Georges Archontopoulos of SEEYATH, the union for Thessalonian water workers, talking about the self-organised referendum that they organised to fight the privatisation of water in Thessaloniki, Greece. Georges addresses the congress on Thursday afternoon as part of our celebration of the European Citizens' Initiave right to water.

EPSU Congress salutes the struggle of the people of Thessaloniki against privatisation

The 9th EPSU Congress gave a warm support to Yiorgos Archontopoulous (President of the water union in Thessaloniki water company EYATH) a leading member of the citizens campaign SOS te to NERO that was at the heart of the popular referendum that was held on May 18th.

The struggle for water as a Human Right and to keep water and sanitation outside of the internal market continues nationally as the example of Thessaloniki shows.

We welcome the outstanding result of the referendum. On May 18th, citizens of Thessaloniki have clearly expressed their strong opposition to the privatization of the public water company in a popular consultation. The No to privatization got the support of 98%, out of 218,000 people voting.Now the Greek government has to listen to the people of Thessaloniki and stop the privatization of EYATH.

This mass mobilization is the best tribute to the European Citizens Initiative.

Watch our 1 minute video