Commodification and ‘the commons’: The politics of privatising public water in Greece and Portugal during the Eurozone crisis

Abstract

In response to the Eurozone crisis, austerity and restructuring has been imposed on the European Union’s peripheral member states in order to receive financial bailout loans. In addition to cuts in funding for essential public services, cuts in public sector employment and the further liberalisation of labour markets, this has also included pressure towards the privatisation of state assets. Yet, workers have not simply accepted these restructuring pressures; rather, they have organised and fought back against austerity and enforced privatisation. Based on a historical-materialist perspective and following a strategy of incorporated comparison, in this article, we will comparatively assess the struggles against enforced water privatisation in Greece and Portugal set against the background of the structuring conditions surrounding the Eurozone crisis.

Keywords

Eurozone crisis Greece Portugal privatisation resistance water struggles

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Afonso

Zartaloudis

Papadopoulos

(2015) How party linkages shape austerity politics: Clientelism and fiscal adjustment in Greece and Portugal during the eurozone crisis. Journal of European Public Policy 22(3): 315–334.

Amoore

Langley

(2004) Ambiguities of global civil society. Review of International Studies 30(1): 89–110.

Bakker

(2008) The ambiguity of community: Debating alternatives to private-sector provision of urban water supply. Water Alternatives 1(2): 236–252.

Bakker

(2010) Privatizing Water: Governance Failure and the World’s Urban Water Crisis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Barker

(2013) Class struggle and social movements. In: Barker

Cox

Krinsky

et al . (eds) Marxism and Social Movements. Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp. 41–61.

Bayliss

(2014) The financialization of water. Review of Radical Political Economics 46(3): 292–307.

Bayliss

(2017) Material cultures of water financialisation in England and Wales. New Political Economy 22(4): 383–397.

Bieler

(2011) Labour, new social movements and the resistance to neo-liberal restructuring in Europe. New Political Economy 16(2): 163–183.

Bieler

(2014) Transnational labour solidarity in (the) crisis. Global Labour Journal 5(2): 114–133.

10.

Bieler

(2015) ‘Sic Vos Non Vobis’ (for you, but not yours): The struggle for public water in Italy. Monthly Review 67(5): 35–50.

11.

Bieler

(2017) Fighting for public water: The first successful European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Water and Sanitation Are a Human Right’. Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements 9(1): 300–326. Available at: http://www.interfacejournal.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Interface-9-1-Bieler.pdf (accessed 8 July 2017).

12.

Bieler

Erne

(2014) Transnational solidarity? The European working class in the Eurozone crisis. In: Panitch

Albo

Chibber

(eds) Transforming Classes. Socialist Register 2015. Pontypool: The Merlin Press, pp. 157–177.

13.

Bieler

Jordan

(2015) Austerity and resistance: The politics of labour in the Eurozone crisis. In: Satgar

(ed.) Capitalism’s Crises: Class Struggles in South Africa and the World. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, pp. 97–122.

14.

Bieler

Morton

(forthcoming) Global Capitalism, Global War, Global Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

15.

Brauninger

(2013) Privatisation in the euro area: Differing attitudes towards public assets. Research Briefing: European Integration, Deutsche Bank: DB Research.

16.

Brauninger

(2015) Privatisation in the euro area: Governments should grasp opportunities. Research Briefing: European Integration, Deutsche Bank: DB Research.

17.

Bruff

(2014) The rise of authoritarian neoliberalism. Rethinking Marxism 26(1): 113–129.

18.

Burret

Schnellenbach

(2013) Implementation of the fiscal compact in the Euro Area member states. German Council of Economic Experts, Working Paper 08/2013.

19.

Buttigieg

(1995) Gramsci on civil society. Boundary 2 22(3): 1–32.

20.

Buttigieg

(2005) The contemporary discourse on civil society: A Gramscian critique. Boundary 2 32(1): 33–52.

21.

Cleaver

(2000) Reading Capital Politically (Second Edition). Leeds: Anti/Theses.

22.

Clua-Losada

Horn

(2014) Analysing labour and the crisis: Challenges, responses and new avenues. Global Labour Journal 5(2): 102–113.

23.

Corporate Europe Observatory (2013) At your service: The European Services Forum’s privileged access to the EU Commission. Corporate Europe Observatory.

24.

Costa

(2012) From Europe as a model to Europe as austerity: The impact of the crisis on Portuguese trade unions. Transfer 18(4): 397–410.

25.

EPSU (Federation of European Public Service Unions) (2012) Why water is a public service: Exposing the myths of privatization. Brussels: EPSU. Available at http://www.right2water.eu/sites/water/files/u/u4/20022012-epsuwater.pdf (accessed 24 December 2014).

26.

euobserver (2015) Greece to sell water, energy firms under EU deal. 20 August. Available at https://euobserver.com/economic/129936 (accessed 17 August 2017).

27.

European Commission (2010) The Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece — first review — summer 2010. European Economy, Occasional Papers 68, August.

28.

European Commission (2011) The Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece — fourth review — spring 2011. European Economy, Occasional Papers 82, July.

29.

European Commission (2014) The Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal — Eleventh review. European Economy, Occasional Papers 191, April.

30.

European Commission (2015) Greece — memorandum of understanding for a three-year ESM programme. Draft agreed at staff level, 11 August.

31.

Fattori

(2013) From the water commons movement to the commonification of the public realm. The South Atlantic Quarterly 112(2): 377–387.

32.

Financial Times (2015) A modern Greek tragedy — the crisis years in context. 19 June.

33.

Goldman

(2007) How ‘Water for all!’ policy became hegemonic: The power of the World Bank and its transnational policy networks. Geoforum 38: 786–800.

34.

Gore

(1996) Methodological nationalism and the misunderstanding of East Asian industrialisation. The European Journal of Development Research 8(1): 77–122.

35.

Hall

Lobina

(2009) Water privatization. In: Arestis

Sawyer

(eds) Critical Essays on the Privatization Experience. London: Palgrave, pp. 75–120.

36.

Hall

Lobina

(2012a) Water Companies and Trends in Europe 2012. London: Public Services International Research Unit.

37.

Hall

Lobina

(2012b) The birth, growth and decline of multinational water companies. In: Katko

Juuti

Schwartz

(eds) Water Services Management and Governance. London: IWA Publishing, pp. 123–132.

38.

Hall

(1996) The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees. In: Morley

Chen

K-H

(eds) Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 25–46.

39.

Harvey

(1985) The geopolitics of capitalism. In: Gregory

Urry

(eds) Social Relations and Spatial Structures. London: Macmillan, pp. 128–163.

40.

Harvey

(2003) The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

41.

Held

McGrew

(2002) Globalization/Anti-Globalization. Cambridge: Polity.

42.

Held

McGrew

Goldblatt

et al . (1999) Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. Cambridge: Polity.

43.

Ioannou

(2000) Change and continuity in Greek industrial relations: The role of and impact on trade unions. In: Waddington

Hoffmann

(eds) Trade Unions in Europe — Facing Challenges and Searching for Solutions. Brussels: European Trade Union Institute, pp. 277–304.

44.

Jakob

Sanchez

(2015) Remunicipalisation and workers: Building new alliances. In: Kishimoto

Lobina

Petitjean

(eds) Our Public Water Future: The Global Experience with Remunicipalisation. Amsterdam et al.: Transnational Institute, pp. 76–84.

45.

Jubilee Debt Campaign (2016) The never-ending austerity story: Why Greece’s third ‘bailout’ changes nothing. 12 February.

46.

Kretsos

(2011) Grassroots unionism in the context of economic crisis in Greece. Labor History 52(3): 265–286.

47.

Lobina

(2012) Water service governance, technological change and paradigm shifts: A conceptual framework. International Journal of Water 6(3/4): 155–175.

48.

Lobina

(2014) Troubled Waters: Misleading Industry PR and the Case for Public Water. London: PSIRU.

49.

Lobina

Terhorst

Popov

(2011) Policy networks and social resistance to water privatization in Latin America. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 10: 19–25.

50.

Lobina

Kishimoto

Petitjean

(2014) Here To Stay: Water remunicipalisation as a global trend. Amsterdam et al: Transnational Institute.

51.

Luxemburg

(2003 [1913]) The Accumulation of Capital (trans. Schwarzschild

). London: Routledge.

52.

MacroPolis (2014) Greece shelves water privatisation plans, leaving gap in revenue targets. 2 July. Available at http://www.macropolis.gr/?i=portal.en.economy.1331 (accessed 17 August 2017).

53.

MacroPolis (2016) Complex privatisation fund faces tall order to reduce Greek debt. 20 May. Available at http://www.macropolis.gr/?i=portal.en.economy.4026 (accessed 17 August 2017).

54.

McMichael

(1990) Incorporating comparison within a world-historical perspective: An alternative comparative method. American Sociological Review 55(3): 385–397.

55.

McMichael

(2000) World-systems analysis, globalization, and incorporated comparison. Journal of World-Systems Research 4(3): 668–690.

56.

McMichael

(ed.) (2010) Contesting Development: Critical Struggles for Social Change. New York, NY, and Abingdon: Routledge.

57.

McMichael

(2017) Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective (6th edn). London et al.: SAGE.

58.

Marx

(1984 [1852]) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

59.

Morton

(2013) Revolution and State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development (Updated Edition). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

60.

Multinationals Observatory (2014) Forced Privatizations in Greece: Suez Eyes Taking Over the Water Services of Athens and Thessalonik. 28 March. Available at http://multinationales.org/Forced-Privatizations-in-Greece (accessed 17 August 2017).

61.

Neos Kosmos (2014) Athens Water Utility to remain public. 3 June. Available at http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/athens-water-utility-to-remain-public (accessed 17 August 2017).

62.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2017) Real GDP forecast (indicator). DOI: 10.1787/1f84150b-en (accessed 22 June 2017).

63.

Pigeon

McDonald

Hoedeman

Kishimoto

(2012) Remunicipalisation: Putting Water Back into Public Hands. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.

64.

Van der Pijl

(1998) Transnational Classes and International Relations. London: Routledge.

65.

Polanyi

(1957) The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

66.

Reuters (2014) UPDATE 1-Mota Engil wins Portugal EGF privatisation with 150 mln euro bid. 18 September. Available at http://uk.reuters.com/article/portugal-mota-engil-egf-idUKL6N0RJ3EH20140918 (accessed 17 August 2017).

67.

Robbins

(2003) Transnational corporations and the discourse of water privatization. Journal of International Development 15: 1073–1082.

68.

Rodrigues

Reis

(2012) The asymmetries of European integration and the crisis of capitalism in Portugal. Competition and Change 16(3): 188–205.

69.

Save Greek Water (2016) How the new Greek Super-Fund affects water services. 21 May. Available at http://www.savegreekwater.org/archives/4582 (accessed 17 August 2017).

70.

Sotirakopoulos

Sotiropoulos

(2013) ‘Direct democracy now!’: The Greek indignados and the present cycle of struggles. Current Sociology 61(4): 443–456.

71.

Sotiris

(2017) The authoritarian and disciplinary mechanism of reduced sovereignty in the EU: The case of Greece. In: Tansel

(ed.) States of Discipline: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, pp. 171–187.

72.

Swyngedouw

(2005) Dispossessing H₂O: The contested terrain of water privatization. Capitalism Nature Socialism 16(1): 81–99.

73.

Tansel

(2017) Authoritarian neoliberalism: Towards a new research agenda. In: Tansel

(ed.) States of Discipline: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Contested Reproduction of Capitalist Order. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, pp. 1–28.

74.

Teles

(2015) Financialisation and neoliberalism: The case of water provision in Portugal. FESSUD Working Paper No. 102.

75.

The Guardian (2012) Portugal to hold fire-sale of state assets. 25 December. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/25/portugal-hold-fire-sale-state-assets (accessed 17 August 2017).

76.

The Guardian (2015a) The great Greece fire sale. 24 July. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/24/greek-debt-crisis-great-greece-fire-sale (accessed 17 August 2017).

77.

The Guardian (2015b) Germany’s hypocrisy over Greece water privatisation. 14 August. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/aug/14/germanys-hypocrisy-over-greece-water-privatisation (accessed 17 August 2015).

78.

Varghese

(2013) The global water grab: Meet the ‘new water barons’. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 8 February.

79.

Vila

Peters

(2016) The Privatising Industry in Europe. Issue Brief. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute (TNI).

80.

Wainwright

(2014) The Tragedy of the Private, the Potential of the Public. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.

81.

Whitfield

(2010) Global Auction of Public Assets: Public Sector Alternatives to the Infrastructure Market and Public Private Partnerships. Nottingham: Spokesman.

82.

Wright

(2006) Compass points: Towards a socialist alternative. New Left Review 41: 93–124.

83.

Yang

J-S

(2012) The new ‘water barons’: Wall Street mega-banks are buying up the world’s water. 21 December.