Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002155/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Kostas Papadakis (NI)
The European Parliamentary Research Service’s 2024 figures speak volumes. There are 5.4 million people living in water-scarce areas in Greece. In the EU as a whole, this number reaches 53 million.
In many areas of Greece, such as the Peloponnese and Thessaly, as well as islands such as Crete and Corfu, working-class families and struggling farmers have to deal with water cuts and warnings about reduced water supply and a decreased availability of water for irrigation. The policy implemented treats water as a commodity, which it manages in application of the ‘cost-benefit’ logic. This is the result of implementing EU strategy – and yet, at the same time, ordinary people are lacking safe drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality.
In view of this:
- 1.What view does it take of the fact that the culpable EU strategy and the application of the ‘cost recovery’ principle condemn ordinary households to pay through the nose for water, irrigation and sanitation services, as well as the expected increases in water tariffs, while in many cases it is not guaranteed that the needs of ordinary working people are met?
- 2.What view does it take of the fact that EU policy favouring the profitability of groups, e.g. hotel groups, prioritises their unhindered water supply, grants them all kinds of credit facilities and boosts the profitability of bottling groups, while urgent infrastructure projects to ensure sufficient water supply and improve its quality, including the replacement of deteriorated and inadequate networks and the intelligent use of water reserves – which need to be implemented with funding from the state budget rather than through PPPs, concession contracts or at the expense of ordinary working people – remain at a standstill?
Submitted: 28.5.2025