An alternative to the market - the social, political and economic role of public services in Europe, organised by ETUI-REHS, EPSU, SALTSA, 19 - 12 November in Brussels
For documents and further information on the conference please go to: http://www.etui-rehs.org
This conference was organised by EPSU in cooperation with the research institute of the ETUC, the ETUI-REHS www.etui-rehs.org , the Swedish research organisation SALTSA www.saltsa.se and supported also by CIRIEC www.ulg.ac.be/ciriec and other research networks. The idea was to facilitate a discussion between researchers and trade unionists on the consequences of privatisation and liberalisation, looking at the scientific evidence to underpin the EPSU public services campaign.
There are four broad political conclusions which we can draw from this scientific evidence:
There is a narrow window of opportunity to make the case for public ownership in the delivery of essential services with the concession of the World Bank that privatisation has failed to deliver;
That private equity funds are, with little accountability, piling up capital and turn to privatised services as ideal investment opportunities;
An analysis from 7 European universities, led by Professor Massimo Florio, concludes that the policy of privatisation, vertical disintegration and liberalisation in electricity, gas and telecoms has had next to no impact on prices and consumer satisfaction. Productivity is not to be confused with profitability. Profit accumulation does not necessarily lead to investment. Final results from this research using the same methodology as the Commission’s favourate consultancy Copenhagen Economics and the OECD are expected to be published in early March 2008.
Let us exploit the evidence for our political campaign, www.epsu.org/r/271
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