Socialists call for binding EU definition of public services
LUCIA KUBOSOVA
31.05.2006 @ 09:55 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just hours after member states struck a deal on the liberalisation of services, MEPs launched a campaign for an EU law defining, safeguarding and promoting public services, in a bid to prevent attempts to open them up to cross-border competition.
The socialist group - the second biggest in the European Parliament - on Tuesday (30 May) presented a draft EU directive defining "services of general interest" which its leaders are planning to deliver to the commission and council, representing member states.
"All EU citizens must have the right to high-quality schools and hospitals, a healthy water supply, safe transport and social services," said the Socialist leader, Martin Schulz.
The group's text sets out key principles on how to define public services, such as their universal provision, high quality at affordable prices, openness and transparency.
It also confirms the right of countries' authorities to decide how to manage and finance such services or grant exclusive concessions and compensations to their providers.
The socialists suggest this directive should be legally above the general law on services, adopted this week.
The campaign has sparked an angry reaction from the centre-right parliamentarians.
According to Swedish MEP Gunnar Hokmark, it "will not improve today's services but certainly will stop development of new and better services for the citizens of Europe."
"It is de facto a campaign to protect certain producers from the emergence of better and more customer oriented service providers," Mr Hokmar added.
Not easy to draft a law
Only the European Commission can table a legislation, with parliament and member states modifying it.
But Brussels has so far not moved further in setting out principles of what should constitute a public service - despite calls from some NGOs, mainly in the area of social services.
The Socialists now claim they want to put more pressure on the EU executive to act and draft a law to give legal certainty for providers of public services as well as mainly local and regional authorities.
The issue has come under the spotlight during a debate on the controversial services directive, as it is the definition of public interest that is not clear making it also unclear where EU internal market rules would apply.
But the social policy commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, has pointed out on several occasions that member states need to discuss what kind of legal instrument to use for this sensitive area in the first place.
