Bisignano: come affogare un comune per debiti con l'acqua We receive and gladly publish this letter from the Committee for Public Water Calabrese (if you want, is available throughout the document in Word format, to Google Docs
):
the private company
So.Ri.Cal. SpA is the French multinational Veolia
, unexpectedly removed from the management of water systems in Paris, in his homeland of France. So
Calabria is the land of welcome of the "exiles" in France and, you know, for exiles life is always tough, but the people are the heart of Calabria. The "exiles" French manage our aqueducts, of course the good part, making money and profits, but only because they are "exiles". The Calabria Region
, a member of an absolute majority in the joint enterprise So.Ri.Cal. SpA, is contributing millions to advance the plight of "exiles". Obviously, one can imagine, So.Ri.Cal. SpA reciprocate the warmth and hospitality towards Calabria, if only because he lives a condition of exile from the motherland, and for Calabresi, unfortunately, as representing the everyday.
is not so, but no ill will, only because the status of "refugees" implies a constant search for security projection in the future.
The example of what happened in the town of Bisignano is, in this sense, illuminating.
this municipality in the province of Cosenza had become a debtor of the company So.Ri.Cal. SpA for the supply of drinking water
sum of € 443,242.17 for the period 2005 to 2008 . Sum that could not pay for obvious financial difficulties, despite the citizens have made the payment of their water consumption. It is known that the Calabrian
are among the poorest citizens of the whole European community and the municipalities, especially the huge crisis that is with us, have very limited resources.
The status of "exiles", suggests, however, the So.Ri.Cal. SpA to require the City not only the payment of that sum but also
€ 50,682.69 for interest for late . Obviously the City of Bisignano
not have the money to pay and so, in
date 16.03.2009 , asks the So.Ri.Cal. SpA can pay off the debt with a repayment plan of 20 monthly installments from May 2009, also asks the company to waive the request for default interest and currency appreciation.
The "exiles" are said to be French in Calabria available to grant a delay in the payment
provided, however, to sign a new convention of utilities ". In
date 27.04.2009 is approved and signed
the new Convention provides that the repayment plan of the outstanding debt of € 443,242.17 by
extinct in 20 monthly installments of € 22,162.10 each ;
the start date of the first installment, however, is postponed to May 2008 . The City of Bisignano
unable to make payments, with every effort referred to a serious cash flow situation, until 31.12.2008 unable, however, to ensure payment of the amounts the company So.Ri.Cal. SpA for the whole year 2009. And now what happens? What will the "exiles" in France in Calabria?
First, to begin with, the
So.Ri.Cal. SpA provides notice of the City Bisignano requiring, among other things, the payment due to all the 3rd quarter 2009 amounted to € 504,955.69
, in a lump sum within 15 days from the date the request .
The City of Bisignano, who obviously has the money, is likely to leverage on the status of "exiles" of society, believing that the destiny that unites people in need is basically the same.
why, asks the company So.Ri.Cal. SpA for the adoption of a new plan to return the entire debt of € 504,955.69, and proposed to pay it off in 15 monthly installments of € 33,663.74 with effect from March 2010. The response of the "exiles" in France not long in coming, and perhaps because of their status, is always accompanied by a request for a
further convention of utilities ".
The new Convention provides for the extinction of the debt, which has since reached an amount of € 514,551.67, with a deferred
60 monthly installments of € 8,575.86 each, with effect from May 2010 until April of 2015 .
was not mistaken about the fate of the city that links the needy have been generous to the "exiles" in France in Calabria ... or maybe not? In fact, the Convention has not only provided the delay, but also
payment "in current account charges of providing" a sum equal to € 1,441,020.00 to be carried out with 60 monthly installments of € 24,017.00 in 10 of the month As from May 2010 until April 2015 .
But not enough! The new Convention requires the City of Bisignano, in consideration of the repayment plan,
to pay statutory interest, however, yet to be defined on the outstanding debt that was satisfied after the first 48 installments and in the amount equal to
€ 102,910.33, from the 49th installment poor May 10, 2014 and until the lapse of the recovery plan itself. Terms
almost halter for the city, apparently with their backs to the wall, but deemed beneficial by the administrators, and even worthy of being accepted! Surely the administrators who will and who will this bill in the municipal accounts, understand well the benefits of the transaction and in any case, have in mind the needs of the status of "exiles" in France in Calabria.
should be noted also that the citizens expect bisignanesi in response to the signatures collected in favor of the petition sponsored by the Forum of the Movements of Water "and as approved by the City Council held on May 17, amending the Statute
municipal declaring water a universal right of free economic importance.
The irony at this point, it leaves space and in-depth series of considerations that must be made.
We wonder in fact how many "new conventions" the So.Ri.Cal. SpA has "signed" with the towns of Calabria and if there was, on this, a check of the Calabria region in his capacity as majority shareholder . The Calabria Region
fact can not pretend nothing has happened, allow the municipalities to be put up against the wall, why not provide
only a debt repayment plan and instead require the City to pay interest "to be defined" besides monthly installments in "provision of the current account fees."
If, hypothetically, the City of Bisignano, does not deal with this new "Convention" what will happen? Maybe, to ensure supplies of drinking water to its citizens will be forced to sign another Convention, and how much, how many rate, of those interests and to what year? At this point the
Calabria Region, which is seen in Sorical represented by President Abraham Sergio
, should give a clear answer to the municipalities on many issues, starting with the tariffs applied in Calabria, in the opinion of the Coordination Calabrese Public Water "Bruno Arcuri,
were calculated on improperly and then verify the true state of indebtedness of Commons .
must say
who secured the loan of 240 million € with Depfa Bank or shed light on the question of previous credits
the collection of which, under the integrating the joint enterprise had officially given up having a profitable return, first of all, the "release" of water charges. Then the region of Calabria has instructed the Sorical SpA to collect the debts of the past in
conditions are not known but, we believe, be more than 2% of the amount recovered-Sorical Region established by the Convention of June 13, 2003.
What is happening in Calabria, and what happened in the town of Bisignano and probably in many other municipalities, does nothing but reaffirm the need to remove the water from the market and ripubblicizzare the integrated water management with a democratic and participatory water because it is written but it reads democracy.