18 March 2013, Paris Following a meeting at ministerial level of the OECD Public Governance Committee (PGC) end-2010 , the OECD created an “Observatory of Public Sector Innovation” composed of a dozen of PGC delegates and serviced by the OECD Secretariat (GOV Directorate). The Observatory is currently chaired by the French PGC delegate Francoise Waintrop and aspires to “become a platform for producing, sharing and disseminating knowledge on public sector innovation”. In addition to steering (...)

(16 March 2012) Please find below for your information a joint EPSU/PSI/TUAC critique of the OECD’s work on ’competitive neutrality’. According to the OECD ’competitive neutrality’ basically means that government businesses should operate, to the largest extent feasible, in the same regulatory environment as private enterprises. You will see however that there are a number of problems with the OECD’s approach, including: undefined scope, diverse national interpretations; failure to (...)

(16 November 2010) On 10 November EPSU participated in a conference organised by the European Parliament’s public services and social economy Intergroups on "Social services: What political options after the 3rd social services of general interest (SSGI) Forum? ". For the conference EPSU distributed a short paper setting out ‘seven demands for SSGI’ (see below), which was drawn up following the joint LRG/HSS eldercare workshop on October 27 and served as input into the EU presidency SSGI (...)

1. The EC questionnaire states that “An initiative on concessions would aim to facilitate the use of concessions and ensure best value for money for both users and contracting authorities, by providing all interested parties with legal security and guaranteeing transparency and equal treatment for economic operator.” This sentence shows that the framework set for the consultation is heavily biased towards assessing concessions against one perspective only – that of competition. EPSU expected a (...)

Study commissioned in the framework of the “Mapping of the Public Services” project managed by CEEP For more than twenty years, the “sectors” of Public Services / Services of General Interest have faced tremendous changes due to Europeanisation of the definition and organisation framework, policies of liberalisation, opening up of the markets, new rules, enlargement of the European Union, etc. It is therefore important to “map” the situation of enterprises providing services at European level (...)

(25 March 2010) Corporate Observatory Europe published a new report on the EU 2020 strategy. It compares the views of European Round Table of Industrialists and finds that on key issues the Commission follows the view of the ERT. And let us not forget what it is all about as Baron Janssen, a member of the ERT (ex-CEO of chemical giant Solvay): The vision is about ― reducing the power of the state and of the public sector in general through privatisation and deregulation" and "transferring (...)

(25 February 2010) With the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty there are now clear obligations on the European Union to develop a positive agenda for public services and fundamental rights. EPSU wants to make full use of the new possibilities so that a strong public sector and quality public services can play their role in combating the economic crisis and securing the long-term development of our societies, both within and outside the EU. This means, for example, that public services must (...)

(25 January 2010) EPSU is pleased to contribute to the consultation, in complement to the remarks submitted by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). We support the aim of an overarching strategy for the EU, and we agree with the Commission that “we live in an age when the divisions between different policy fields are increasingly artificial (1).” In our view sustainable development - and the pursuit of integrated social, economic and environmental progress - must underpin this (...)

I. EPSU Opinion and Recommendations Adopted at the EPSU Executive Committee, 9 & 10 November 2009, Brussels EPSU SGI recom - EN EPSU SGI recom - FR EPSU SGI recom - DE EPSU SGI recom - SV EPSU SGI recom - ES EPSU SGI recom - RU II. EPSU background note it 8.2 Background note - EN it 8.2 background note - FR it 8.2 background note - DE it 8.2 background note - SV it 8.2 Background note - ES it 8.2 background note - (...)

The aim of the workshop was to help prepare the first draft of the public services resolution for the EPSU 2009 Congress. Each constituency was invited to nominate two representatives to the meeting. The attached PowerPoint presentation gives an overview of the day’s discussion. The last slides reflect the points made in the meeting concerning the content of the public services resolution. These are based also on a “tour de table” on challenges and trade union demands at the national (...)