Social services: What political options after the 3rd social services of general interest (SSGI) Forum

(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 Forum. EPSU wants the EU to develop clear objectives and targets for developing more and better social services in Europe, supported by a range of instruments. Given the ageing population, we think that priority attention needs to be given to the development of quality eldercare services.

A soon to be published report being carried out by EPSU pinpoints the lack of good and accessible eldercare services in many – if not all- parts of Europe. Such services are essential both support growing numbers of older people and also to ensure Europe can meet the employment and poverty targets agreed in the EU2020 strategy. The EU has dragged its feet on the development of a positive agenda for public services, pursuing instead a legalistic approach and using alienating jargon (e.g., whoever talks about SSGI at local level?).

This long-standing problem is now compounded by public sp[ending cuts and the focus on debt management. On the other hand, as pointed out during the conference by Proinsas de Rossa MEP, currently charged with drawing up a EP report on SSGI, since the Lisbon Treaty the EU has new ‘tools’ which it could use of to develop and implement a clear agenda supporting social services in the different countries. Furthermore, as shown by the numerous interventions made at the cnference, support for such an agenda has never been greater. 

 - EU policy on social services of general interest (SSGI): Towards a “voluntary quality framework for social services”? EPSU background paper for the joint HSS / LRG workshop on eldercare services 27 October 2010, Luxembourg