WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

With regard to our water supply, a lot of scaremongering has been
going on, spread by the Wasserforum in particular but also by other
groups bringing dishonest arguments to bear. [...] Your queries about
the value of our water supply infrastructure are an intrusion on the
business interests of the companies involved and so I cannot therefore
answer them. [...] We should not allow this precious possession
[the water supply] to be harmed by disputes and the racket of
electioneering.”
The conflict of interests, into which the mayor has manoeuvred
himself, is clearly visible from these statements. He sees himself first
and foremost as being answerable to EnBW’s desire for discretion, in
others words to the purchaser, and not to the legitimate interests of the
citizens who elected him into office and who pay his salary – and whom
he is duty bound to serve on account of his oath of office. Another fact
weighing equally heavily is: these assets were built up and paid for by
generations of taxpayers.
Activists from the Stuttgarter Wasserforum outside the Town Hall in Stuttgart with their
“Citizens’ Petition 100-Wasser” banner calling for the 100 per-cent remunicipalisation
of the city’s water supply (photo: Stuttgarter Wasserforum)
In gross contradiction to the oath of office and local government
code requirements, the interest which the public has in being informed
about decisions and having some measure of control – without which
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