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problem of privatizations. Already on December 12, 1992 the Uruguayan population
had voted in a referendum against a privatization of electricity, telecommunication
and petroleum. Also moved by the Argentinian experience the Uruguayans collected
280,000 signatures against the privatization of water in 2003 in order to hold a referendum
in November 2004, which would permit a constitutional change and define
the utilization and protection of water resources as a fundamental right which has to
be administered exclusively by the public authorities. 197
A large part of the extensive Guaraní water reservoir (“Acuífero Guaraní”) is
located in Uruguayan territory. Likewise a majority of Uruguayans on December 7,
2003 voted against “law 17,448” which would have permitted the privatization of the
national petroleum company Ancap. 198 Because as long as state enterprises are not
privatized, there is no danger of becoming the object of claims of private investors,
which are written down in the existing international investment treaties. Uruguay
has signed 15 bilateral investment treaties so far, of which seven have entered into
force. 199
Brazil in this context (still) has a special status, as the Brazilian congress has not
ratified one single investment treaty (yet). Nonetheless, for decades Brazil has been
leading the list of FDI recipient (emerging) countries. Taking a look at FDI in Brazil over
the last 30 years (from 1969 to 2000) from the perspective of competition between
European and US-American transnational corporations, 200 the FDI of European corporations
do not fall short of the U.S. companies: In 1969 there were fourteen U.S.
and twenty European transnational corporations among the Brazilian Top-100 list
of major companies. Four of the European companies were German, three British
and three French. 201 In 2000 there were already five companies each from Germany,
France and Italy and three from Spain among the Top-100, totaling 29 European
transnationals versus 19 from the U.S.A. Telefónica together with Telefónica Celular
alone had sales of 6 billion US-dollars followed by Volkswagen do Brazil with sales of
5.73 billion US-dollars. 202
197
El País, Uruguay, October 31, 2003: “[U]na reforma constitucional que declara el agua, su uso y preservación, como
derecho humano fundamental, asegurando además la gestión de los recursos hídricos en manos del Estado.”
198
El País, Uruguay, December 10, 2003.
199
http://www.worldbank.org/icsid/treaties/uruguay.htm.
200
A comparison: If you take a look at the competition from the viewpoint USA-Germany the following global
image can be drawn: The total volume of U.S. direct investment amounts to 1.5 billion US-dollars, which is only
approximately double that of German direct investment. See: Peter Rösler: Ausländische Direktinvestitionen in
Lateinamerika, Ibero-Amerika Verein der Deutschen Wirtschaft, July 30, 2003. There a direct comparision is
made of Germany and the “competitor USA”: “Zweitwichtigster Industriepartner Lateinamerikas nach den USA:
In der verarbeitenden Industrie Lateinamerikas stehen deutsche Unternehmen weiterhin an 2. Stelle nach ihren
Wettbewerbern aus den USA.” Own translation: “The second most important industrial partner of Latin America
after the U.S.: In the Latin American manufacturing industry German companies continue to rank second behind
their competitors from the U.S.”
201
Sérgio Oliveira Birchal: European Direct Investment in Brazil, 1969-2000, p. 3-4.
202 Ibid., p. 16.
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