Brussels, 12/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 12 September, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the EP adopted the own initiative report by German social democrat MEP Bernhardt Rapkay relating to the Commission's White Paper on services of general interest (SGI). The agreement between the two main political groups (EPP-ED and PES) worked well, in that virtually all the compromise amendments put forward by members of those groups, some of which were signed by the Greens/EFA group too, received wide support. The report is due to be adopted at the second plenary session in September.
MEPs call on the Commission to launch appropriate legislative initiatives to be adopted under the co-decision procedure, beginning with social and health services of general interest. Recalling the importance of the subsidiarity principle in this area, they call on it to clarify two major issues: the consequences of the EU Court of Justice jurisprudence based on a sectoral approach, and the application of competition law to SGIs and SGEIs (services of general economic interest), particularly with regard to the funding of these services. They also stress the urgent need for increased legal security from the various forms of cooperation put in place at local level to ensure the provision of the services concerned.