Ordinary People (OLaNO) MP Igor Hraško launched an online petition on Tuesday aimed at thwarting plans for the adoption of an amendment to the act on water in Parliament, according to TASR. The piece of legislation proposed by Environment Minister Peter Žiga (Smer-SD) was okayed by the Government on June 4.
If it is passed, the Government will have exclusive powers to restrict or ban exports of water from Slovakia. According to Hraško, Slovakia should, first and foremost, be aware of the level of its surplus of water reserves, where the reserves are located and what sort of effect they have on global warming. To this end, he's urging the Cabinet to carry out a study on the issue first. “The Government is preparing to privatise water reserves in a covert way and rob citizens of them”, said Hraško, who went on to call Žiga's amendment “high treason” and “an assault on the lives of Slovakia’s people.” At the same time, he voiced concern that the new rules will jeopardise water supplies to the public and lead to a spike in water prices. “The Government has decided to proceed in stark contrast to the ongoing discussion in Europe”, added fellow OLaNO MP Jozef Viskupič. He noted that the European Commission decided recently that access to water constitutes a human right after a respective civil initiative was backed by over a million Europeans, including people from Slovakia. “Statements to the effect that a privatisation and sales of drinking water abroad are in the making are pure lies”, said the ministry, adding that the organisers of the petition are deluding the public and spreading panic. According to the ministry, the law contains no mention of the privatisation of water resources and such a sale is banned by the Constitution, which contains a provision stating that water sources belong to the state. According to Žiga, the measure is intended as a pre-emptive measure for the future vis-a-vis climate change.
