Initiative 136 is a citizen's movement in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, which was organized in 2011 in opposition to

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of Thessaloniki's public water and sewage company, EYATH.

New water services management

The movement proposes a new type of water services management that is neither state-run nor

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

, but rather operates on the principles of

cooperativism The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

and conceives water as a

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

. At the heart of the Initiative's plan is the creation of local water cooperatives in all of the metropolitan area's municipalities and districts. The cooperatives will allow participation of water users in decision making regarding water tariffs and investment, under the principle of "one water meter equals one vote".

Union of cooperatives

The union of all the cooperatives will constitute a new company that, according to its statute, will have the goal of managing Thessaloniki's water services in a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

manner and ensure

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

direct democratic Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy model which occurs in the major ...

control, social justice, access to water for all and protection of the environment. The union of cooperatives will participate in the

public tender Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

for the acquisition of EYATH announced by the Greek government for 2013.

European Water Movement

Initiative 136 is a member of the European Water Movement and endorses the

European Citizens' Initiative The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. T ...

for the Right to Water.{{cite web, url=http://www.136.gr/article/%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%81%CF%89%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%8A%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AE-%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%B1-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%8C , script-title=el:Πανευρωπαϊκή συλλογή υπογραφών για το δικαίωμα στο νερό. | Κίνηση 136 , publisher=136.gr , date= , accessdate=2013-04-15, language=el

References

External links

www.136.gr - Official Website

European Water Movement

European Citizens' Initiative for the Right to Water
Public commons Cooperative movement Organizations established in 2011 Thessaloniki Water supply Cooperatives in Greece

New water services management

Union of cooperatives

European Water Movement

References

Further reading

External links