Brussels, 04/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - With the publication, on 23 March, of its communication on the reform of European rules on the financing of services of general economic interest - public services, in other words - the Commission is opening a broad debate which will lead to the creation of new rules, to come into force next November. Amongst other things, it announces a new differentiated and proportionate approach.
In adopting, in plenary session, the report “Towards an act for the single market” by Jean-Louis Destans (PES, France), Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and President of the Regional Council of Eure, the Committee recommends, amongst other things, that the Commission: (1) implements, in the framework of the act for the single market, all the progress contained in the Treaty of Lisbon which may help to restore the confidence of the citizens of the EU in the single market, such as Article 3 of the Treaty, which lays down new social objectives for the Union in terms of fighting social exclusion and discrimination, promoting social justice and social protection, gender equality, solidarity between the generations and protection for the rights of children, the charter of fundamental rights, the application of the cross-cutting social clause and universal access to essential services for the citizens of the EU wherever they live (Article 14 TFUE and protocol 29); (2) carries out, as a priority, an in-depth examination of the consequences of the liberalisation of services, in terms of quality of service and of jobs, employment security, staff qualification levels, prices, territorial cohesion and accessibility and that it proposes an action plan based on the conclusions of this examination with regard to the objectives of the EU 2020 strategy; (3) provides greater legibility, particularly to “win back the trust of the Europeans”, by bringing together the entire raft of proposals on access to essential services into a single package of measures, things that Europeans worry about every day, on the basis of the progress made by the Treaty of Lisbon. It therefore recommends that the proposals on the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the reform of the system for the recognition of vocational qualifications and the creation of a European skills passport, the improvement of the directive on worker secondment, the simplification of the rules on public procurement and SGEI (services of general economic interest), social entrepreneurship, getting rid of tax obstacles for citizens and access to basic banking services to be included in this first package of measures.
Addressing the plenary, Jean-Louis Destans noted that this communication of the Commission “will bring to an end more than 5 years of a dialogue of the deaf between the Commission and the local authorities which organise and fund the majority of the public services. The wait has been long, but the Commission is finally opening up new and positive prospects. This, therefore, is an importance first step, but it must be confirmed, notably when the rules to apply from November 2011 are properly formulated”. He expressed his hopes that by November 2011, “the CoR will fully seize this issue to confirm and enrich the progress it already contains. The European citizens are calling for it”. (G.B./transl.fl)