Slovenia has amended its constitution to make access to drinkable water a fundamental right for all citizens and stop it being commercialised. With 64 votes in favour and none against, the 90-seat parliament added an article to the EU country’s constitution saying “everyone has the right to drinkable water.
The right to drinking water was written down into the Constitution today, after I have been trying to achieve this for three and a half years, from May 2013 to August 2014 as a member of the National Assembly and then with Civil initiative For Slovenia and freedom.
I must say that I and my colleagues from the Civil Initiative sincerely believe that drinking water is a human right, not a commodity. We believe that drinking water is a very important strategic asset of future and an important political issue. Whoever will have control of drinking water will have control over the world, over the people and over the economy. By constitutional definition of drinking water as a public good we defend the sovereignty of our country from exert pressures of capital and the EU institutions, which will in future certainly strengthen. So, drinking water and water resources are a natural wealth and should be considered as a public good and should not be under the control and management of private companies or, what is even worse, completely privatized.
By written down unalienable right to drinking water into the Constitution we are thinking about the future in the present, we will show Europe and the world that Slovenian drinking water is a public good that cannot and will not be privatized and should permanently and primarily be used to supply the population (and animals) and only after that for economic purposes in Slovenia and export purposes, provided the water supply allows for it.
Our goal
From the 30th January 2016 to 11th March, we have collected a list of more than 51,000 signatures in support of having the inalienable right to water written into the Constitution. We handed this list to the National Assembly on 11th March. Our Citizens initiative therefore has to this date the backing of almost 3 percent of the voting population. Even after handing in the petition signatures, we have continued our efforts by working on a positive pressure and discussing the matter with water and legal professionals. We have also engaged public authorities covering the area of water, political parties and representatives of citizen initiatives in an open discussion.
The objective of our actions was to be clearly written into the Constitution that water and water land is a natural public good, over which no-one can acquire ownership rights; that everyone has the right to drinking water; that the water supply of the population cannot be owned by private companies in any legal-formal way, and that the provision of the water supply to the public is a service which should not generate profit and that the water supply of the population has the absolute precedence over economic exploitation in the case of the water crisis or drought or other crises, and that the water resources be managed sustainably, with thoughts on our posterity.
What are the reasons to amend the Constitution?
Nowadays, the society/system does not question what is good for man or nature, it only seeks what is good for the multinational corporate world. It is a doctrine that is not even trying to be disguised anymore. This shows also when we look at drinking water, which is without alternative and cannot be replaced like, for example, fossil fuels can be replaced by electric energy in vehicles. Besides, potable water is quickly becoming a rare commodity and rare commodities are very marketable, since the market is always searching for new products that are needed by as many consumers (private and economic) as possible. It is therefore inevitable that drinking water will soon become the commodity that will be very interesting and profitable to multinational corporations. But it will only be of interest to them if it is completely marketable.
Big corporations are already prepared for this 21st century challenge of turning water resources into merchandise, marketable goods that can be sold and generate profits. For this intention 
corporations have devised market strategies and business models that are being executed effectively in the developed and underdeveloped world. In some places they do it covertly, in others not so much. This is where high politics comes into play, cooperating with the corporations and accepting various regulations and trading agreements.
Europe and the world are already being pressured by lobbying groups to make drinking water entirely marketable. Another goal of international trading agreement negotiations between Europe and the rest of the world is liberalization of various financial and public services, such as drinking water and other natural resources supply. The CETA agreement between Canada and the EU is almost passed, followed by the TTIP agreement with the USA and the TISA agreement (focusing solely on various services) between 50 countries.
What it means amendments to the constitution – the right to drinking water
By amending the Constituition, all water resources, including those that are not being actively utilized yet, will be protected from any potential aspirations to be privatized or owned (privately). In other words, water resources will be exempt from ownership rights. It is important that the Constitution determines that all water resources are a public good in the administration/managed of the state. This means that nobody can get an ownership over them. Not even the state which has to manage them sustainably and exercise control over the extraction of drinking water and compliance with the law. This is also the direction of our motto: Without colour, without taste and without an owner – water is freedom!
Brane Golubović
The state will be obligated (using an independent public supervisor) to monitor the condition of groundwater and all other water resources, prevent and diminish water pollution, encourage lasting water usage, protect the acquatic environment and take preventative measures, all with the intention of providing enough groundwater to procure public (and, if possible, economic) water supply. Public water supply will be provided/guaranteed directly by a non-profit public service. Which means that water supply will not be a marketable commodity and will be exempt from market regulations and the EU internal market (space). It also means that public water supply service will not be executed through concessions and private undertaking (or a public-private patnership) but will be 100 % publicly owned, without the possibility to be privatized at any time or to run according to the rules of the open market. The purpose of the service being executed by a publicly owned non-profit provider is that the supply price can then be regulated so that the funds accumulated will cover the supply execution itself and any necessary service development investments, any excess means (funds) will only be utilized for water supply intentions (e.g. the means/profits from the water supply service will not be allowed to be at the disposal of any private owners to be invested or used for any other purposes.). In addition, the Constitution determines that the water supply of the population has the absolute precedence over economic exploitation in the case of the water crisis or drought or other crises, and that the water resources be managed sustainably, with thoughts on our posterity.
Who are we?
The Citizens Initiative is operating without any financial support, because we are not organized as a non-governmental organization. We are an ad-hoc group of individuals from different parts of Slovenia, with different skills and of various professions, ages, ideological and religious beliefs. As a Citizens Initiative (community), we are acting in line with three basic properties of water: without the smell of political parties, without the taste of religion and transparent in purpose. As individuals, we obviously have our differences and different points of view and approaches to many things. What we do have in common is that we care what happens to our drinking water, so we put aside our personal views and believes. We have also connected with other groups and individuals throughout Slovenia and together we are creating the story of writing down the right to drinking water into our Constitution. Our following goal is to coordinate the legislation within the next 18 months, before the Parliamentary elections which will take place in 2018.
Europe must stand united to protect its drinking water
We are of the opinion that the European non-governmental organisations are erratically jumping from one action to another and are not synchronized and connected. Yesterday the issue was the right to drinking water, today it is the CETA agreement, tomorrow it will be the TTIP agreement. New issues keep coming up one after the other, so nothing ever gets finished/finalized properly. In Slovenia we are still working really hard on this project alone. We are still focusing on writing the right to water into the Constitution, although the battle is almost won. The rest of Europe and other non-governmental organisations need to unify and unite on this subject and start working together.
Let’s fight for the right to drinking water united. We must create a big wave, a movement of people, guardians of water, with a single demand for the European Commission, the EU Parliament and all the member states. Drinking water must be a human right and a public good in the EU. We must wake up the European people again, like we did in 2012/2013. When this will become a reality, the media and the politics will start to participate actively as well.
It is really important to connect and cooperate and raise awareness that the struggle will be hard and long term. In order to keep our efforts valid, we will definitely need some financial resources, which should not be an issue on the European level. For example, it would be extremely beneficial to our goal if every European would donate only 10 cents per month for the campaign and for the people who would work on it full-time for a common goal: to write the right to drinking water into the Constitution of all the EU countries and making water a poblic good in the EU legislation.
Small, green Slovenia can set a leading example of what it is like when a country is aware of the importance of its drinking water and how its people have contributed their time, knowledge, efforts and finances to achieve a common goal.
Translation is not official
Proposed 70th (a) Article OF the Constitution
(Right to drinking water)
Everyone has the right to drinking water.
Water sources are public good managed by the state.
Water resources serve primarily as the sustainable supply of drinking water and water for households and in this part are not treated as a commodity that can be traded with.
Drinking water supplied to the public and to households is provided by the state through local communities direct and non-profit.
Meaning of Article 70.a (This is not an official interpretation of Article)
Our video: Water into Constitution
Our articles in English on http://voda.svoboda.si/english/
I would like to thank Nejc, Romea, Katarina and Dušan very much for helping with translation.
Without colour, without taste and without an owner – water is freedom!
Čestitam !!