In Paris time and space are measured on water, that of the Seine. The streets are blue, complete with Bateaux Mouches, the cruise rafts that go up and down on the banks of the great river. Water in the city of the Eiffel Tower is like air, flowing everywhere, a kind of cultural icon. Here, in the capital of blue gold, the dispute was fierce. A holy war entirely played out at the highest levels, between Presidents of the Republic and Mayors in pectore. The dispute is written in the sacred texts of the French "grandeur", in the primacy of the European city of water. Jacques Chirac, first mayor of Paris for 18 years and then President of the Republic, had just had time to climb the Elysée Palace before the great torment of Parisians broke out against private water imposed amidst protests and scandals since then future French number one.

The overturning of the water
Bertrand Delanoe, the socialist who in 2001 climbed the government of the French capital, swore it to him. It was in 2010, however, that he decided on the most delicate and imposing challenge: to give back to Parisians the water that Chirac had privatized. In the new electoral challenge, the first point of the program is clear: a stop to private water. Delanoe wins again and in a few months chases away the private individuals. Water returns to the public in the capital of the Seine. The two companies, Veolia and Suez, to which the French President Chirac had entrusted the private government of the water resource declare war, but will not win. The municipality of Paris is reclaiming water governance for all intents and purposes.

Slap to privatization

A slap in the face to the Europe of unbridled liberalizations, wild privatizations, to the prevailing dogma according to which "private is beautiful". It was in those years, however, that the scandals consumed at the time of the "private" management of water also surfaced. The chronicles tell of 90,000 "smart" meters complete with remote sensing of losses. An exorbitant cost made to pay dearly to the Parisians who in reality well knew that the Paris water network was the most advanced in the world and that it did not need those appliances.

Water tunnels

Eugène Belgrand, an enlightened Parisian engineer, in fact, in the mid-nineteenth century had planned a drinking water network installed inside underground tunnels built to contain all the subservices. Walkable tunnels, the famous "dunettes" of Belgrand. A network dug into the bowels of the City of Light which made it possible to locate and repair leaks at low cost, allowing Paris a rate of return on drinking water without equivalent in France and in the world. At 30 Rue Madeleine Vionnet, in the north-eastern quadrant of Paris, today there is the headquarters of Veolia, the extremely powerful French multinational water company "expelled" from Paris. A stone's throw away is the Hôtel de Ville de Paris, the capital's Town Hall. Both offices overlook the Seine, but the waterways for them have been interrupted forever.

Shattered showcase

An unprecedented slap in the face for the first French water industry, "expelled" from its own home, breaking without hesitation the private "showcase" of Paris water. Evicted from the Seine and the Eiffel Tower, the lords of blue gold have not lost heart. The landing in Italy was in grand style. The water chronicles tell of Veolia Acqua, the Italian branch of the group, located throughout the boot with specialized companies, from the Compagnia Generale delle Acque Spa, operating in Veneto and Emilia-Romagna to Sagidep Spa operating above all in the north-west, from the Società dell' Acqua Potabile Srl, operating in Liguria, Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta to the partnership with Acqualatina Spa, assignee of the Latina area, by the concessionaire in the Municipality of Lucca and in Mediterranea delle Acque, manager of the Municipality of Genoa. The Veolia Water Group, however, does not miss Sorical, operating in Calabria for the management of wholesale water, as well as Siciliacque, operating in the largest of the islands for the management of wholesale water. The gaze of the large multinationals, starting with the French "expulsion" from Paris, is now entirely turned to the "swallow" of Sardinia. A deal worth at least 8 billion euros, the privatization of the island's integrated water service could cost so much. Bookmakers from the island and beyond are sure that Veolia, after having lost the water from the Seine, aims to manage that from the Flumendosa and the Tirso, taking advantage of the fact that the potential foreign competitor, the Spanish Acciona, already established in an impressive manner within the management of Abbanoa, could prefer the "renewables" side, focusing on wind power at sea and on land, considering it more profitable in terms of incentives.

Sardinian challenge between giants

If the international competition is not stopped, there won't be many contenders. In fact, the companies that will be able to compete will have to declare an annual turnover of between 400 and 500 million euros in the water management sector. Among the Italians there is certainly Acea, the company that governs the water resource of Rome, with 9 million inhabitants in Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria, Campania and Molise. In competition there is also Ireti SpA, of the Iron group, owner of the water service in 238 municipalities between Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Piedmont for a total of 2.7 million inhabitants.

The closest spectrum

What appeared to be a surreal and insane hypothesis, the privatization of water in Sardinia, is now much more than a possibility. To make the road of private individuals increasingly downhill there are at least three elements that constitute much more than a test. First of all there is the European rejection of the extension of the Abbanoa concession, with the aut aut which requires a tender to be completed no later than 31 December 2025. With the procedures envisaged for a tender of this magnitude, the times only they are very restricted, but there is a risk of already being late with the specter of heavy community sanctions.

Tenders in the pipeline

To endorse and make privatization an increasingly concrete danger is the resolution of Arera, the Water System Regulatory Authority which, by 30 September 2023, will have to approve the tender schemes for the assignment of the management of the water service . All based on what was first decided by the Draghi government, in August 2022, and then ratified by the Meloni government last December with Article 7 of Legislative Decree 201/2022.

The silence of the Region

The third element that does not speak in favor of maintaining water under public management is the clumsy attempt to "secret" this lot. No one in Sardinia, neither before nor after the official communication from Europe, nor the Region or even less the governing bodies of the water resource, has lifted a single finger to block this escalation which leads straight towards the privatization of Sardinian water. Yet, also out of respect for the outcome of the 2011 referendum which, with 98% of Sardinians, had asked for public management of water, it was necessary and necessary to take action, without wasting any more time, to take any useful action to block any unfortunate privatization of the primary resource of water in Sardinia.

Last chance

The last chance is limited to article 14 of the same decree 201/2022: "assignment to in-house companies is possible, within the limits established by European Union law, according to the procedures set out in article 17". A public road, therefore, exists. Just want to pursue it. After all, it is the only viable way to prevent a foreign flag from waving on the Tirso, including the French one, the same private banner that the Parisians have "expelled" from the Seine.

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