Mr. Robin Hanan:

We were one of the organisations which organised the European Community initiative that collected 1.5 million signatures across Europe for the right to water, which is part of the right to live a decent life. We are not against the imposition of water charges but we are against charges on the basic supply of water and the level should be set reasonably high, taking into account all the problems of building design, families and so on. It must be structured in a progressive way, which the current water tax proposals are not. We are quite happy with the principle of charging for excessive use of water but the principle of the right to a basic supply of water and to other utilities, which many of our members in other European countries have battled for, is also a very important human right.