Brussels, 30/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - A day for reflection on the role of services of general interest in the European Union will be held on 31 January at the European Parliament in Brussels. Sponsored by the Greens/EFA Group, the day is organised by the European Liaison Committee on Services of General Interest (CELSIG), the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP) and the European Federation of Public Services (EPSU), and with the participation, in particular, of the chairman of the working group on a Social Europe at the Convention, Giorgios Katiforis. The Greens/EFA Group calls in this respect for the services of general interest to be fully recognised in the future European Constitution.
During this reflection day, the delegation in Brussels of the Social Union for Habitat (member of the CELSIG and cEEP) published a first inventory of contributions at the Convention on questions concerning services of general interest. The delegation specifies that the different contributions have been examined in the light of five key questions for the future of the services of general interest: 1) integration of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and of its Article 36 (access to services of general interest); 2) inclusion of services of general interest as values and objectives of the Union; 3) the fate of Article 16 of the Treaty and recognition of the role of the missions of services of general interest for economic, social and territorial cohesion; 4) the fate of Article 86 paragraph 2 of the Treaty and the central questions regarding financing of the missions of general interest services; 5) the development of a derived law specific to services of general interest (mandate of the Council of Barcelona on a transversal framework directive).