In the wake of the global financial crisis, neoliberal restructuring has continued unabated across Europe, with the privatisation of public services a key element of both national austerity policies, and EU-level economic governance structures. Water services in particular have been at the centre of this neoliberal assault - in Greece, the Eurozone crisis has been used as an excuse to impose water privatisation in exchange for bailout agreements. In parallel, the struggle against water privatisation has continued to pick up pace; from the re-municipalisation of water in Grenoble in 2000, to the United Nations declaration of water as a human right in 2010.
In Fighting for Water, Andreas Bieler draws on years of extensive fieldwork to dissect the underlying dynamics of the struggle for public water in Europe. From the successful referendum against water privatisation in Italy, via the European Citizenship initiative on 'Water and Sanitation are a Human Right', to the struggles against water privatisation in Greece and water charges in Ireland, Bieler shows why water has been a fruitful arena for resistance against neoliberal restructuring.
