(20 March, Brussels) The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) has been informed that the European Commission has decided not to publish a controversial communication on public services. The communication, which was set to be unveiled on 21 March, will now only be published "at the earliest on 12 April", according to Commission sources. This delay suggests that there are serious tensions with the College of Commissioners about the content of the communication. EPSU representatives have seen a draft of the communication. The contents have raised alarm bells as to the long-term strategy of the Commission in relation to public services. "The Commission talks of setting out principles for public services in a declaration to be supported by the EU institutions, but most disappointingly, they (the Commission) are at pains to point out that these principles will not have any legal weight" said EPSU communications officer Brian Synnott. He continued; "if even this proposal, which contains nothing concrete for public services, is too much for some Commissioners, then it is a clear signal of just how ideologically stacked the debate has become". EPSU plans to use the delay to raise awareness among its 200 plus public service unions of the significance of this communication. EPSU is already conducting a campaign calling for a horizontal legal framework for public services, and has put its weight behind the action www.petitionpublicservice.eu, which calls for support for this stance.