Citizens of Latvia vs privatization of energy company Latvenergo Mg.iur.. Janis Mucenieks Latvian Trade Union Energija Brussels, 22 February 2010 22 February 2010 1
The problem (I) The government of Latvia in 2000 decided to privatize the energy company Latvenergo The idea of Latvenergo privatization was not logical, not covered by economical analysis, no any benefits for the company, customers, society and state 22 February 2010 2
The problem (II) Public services (electricity) should be for reasonable price, if it would be privatisation the price would jump up, but not the service In case of privatisation large cuts of employees and outsourcing functions without collective agreement s s social guarantees 22 February 2010 3
The constitution demands Trade union initiated the draft law that prohibited privatising Latvenergo According to the constitution of Latvia trade union used the rights to initiate a draft law The minimal limit of citizens who have rights to initiate a law one tenth part of all citizens who have rights to vote the parliament 22 February 2010 4
The steps (I) First,, at least 10`000 signatures of citizens for the draft law Signatures should be testified by notary (now one testified signature costs about EUR 14) Trade union gathered more than 13`000 signatures of citizens 22 February 2010 5
The steps (II) Second,, the Central election commission of Latvia announced the official gathering of citizens` signatures For the draft law there should be at least one tenth of all citizens signatures (145`000) The result was better than the law demands. More than 300`000 signatures were gathered for the draft law 22 February 2010 6
The steps (III) Third,, the draft law with signatures should be send forward to the President of Latvia Trade union contacted the President of Latvia and the President send the draft law to the parliament 22 February 2010 7
The result Due to high activity of citizens and the coming up elections the parliament of Latvia was forced to accept the draft law by themselves The activities of trade union were successful and the company Latvenergo was not privatized 22 February 2010 8
The remarks (I) Nevertheless the directives of European Union still are not faced to customers` interests The directives of European Union forced parliament of Latvia to amend law on ownership unbundling But there are no legal instruments for citizens activities to change the directives of the European Union 22 February 2010 9
The remarks (II) The result of that is instead of one vertically integrated company now work three different companies which are legally divided, but really they work inside one concern The result of that is instead of one vertically integrated company now work three different companies which are legally divided, but really they work inside one concern. The results: more than 3000 workers (40%) dismissed, about 50% higher electricity, quality of service is lower 22 February 2010 10
Thank you for your attention! Mg.iur.. Janis Mucenieks E-mail: mucenieks@energija.lv 22 February 2010 11