Ahead of Euro Elections Top Think tank calls on new Commission to promote public services

(28 May, 2008) As the European Elections near, the highly regarded think tank Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has published a timely report on what should be the new priorities for the incoming European Commission. (See document below)

The report dedicates a whole chapter to the issue of Public Services, or Services of General Interest in eurospeak. It calls for a balanced legal clarity on the role of public services. Most encouragingly, the report states that the current bias towards private provision within the European Commission should be ended.

The report states that; "Cities and municipalities should continue to decide within the framework of local government whether and how they provide a public service, whether they do it themselves, entrust it to a municipal enterprise or let a third party take care of it".

The report also calls for an exemption for cooperating local authorities from hardline public procurement law.

The EPSU General Secretary Carola Fischbach-Pyttel welcomed the report, stating that; "As EU citizens go to vote it is essential that we make the link between the political make up of Parliament and the political direction of the Commisison. The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung have done a real service for EU citizens".

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