WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

7.5 Short-Sighted Policies – Long-Lasting Risks
Under the umbrella of the German Association of Cities and
Towns, 25 German towns have already joined together in a “union
of convenience”. They intend to exchange information about how
best to protect themselves should the U.S. investors approach them
demanding compensation.
The end of CBL transactions does not in any way mean that all danger
has been averted, because risks will remain for the entire period of
contractual validity. The brokers, banks, management consultants and
specialist lawyers who have earned so much as a result of these deals
will almost certainly do their utmost to develop similar “products”
in future. That is why it is our right and our duty as citizens to track
down and put an end to any new forms of “tax optimisation”. How
the general population views CBL deals can be seen from the results
of a local citizens’ referendum held in Bergisch-Gladbach, where the
council was planning to lease the sewage purification plant and the
sewerage network. In September 2003, 96∙5 per cent of citizens voted
against the deal and the project was thwarted.
Numerous public figures also evaluate the issue critically. Wolf
Klinz, President of the Chamber of Commerce in Frankfurt, spoke out
against CBL transactions, which he described as foolhardy. 38 Gerhard
Stratthaus, Baden-Württemberg’s Finance Minister, 39 voiced a
similarly sceptical view and Heinz Strobl, head of the local government
economics and finances department at the Ministry of the Interior, said:
“Diverse breaches of contract or even a disruption in efficiency could
well result in the loss of municipal autonomy.” 40 Rudi Arndt, retired
state minister and former Mayor of Frankfurt, was even harsher in
his criticism of the CBL transaction involving the city’s underground,
calling it “a lousy deal in every respect”.
Let us allow Wolfgang Schuster, Mayor of Stuttgart, to have his say at
the end of this chapter: “The trick involved in this financial deal is that
the German contractual partner remains the economic and civil law
owner of the leasing objects.” 41 Roughly three years later, the same
mayor stated in an interview about plans which had fallen through
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