ntergroup on Public Services

In Strasbourg on the 20th January 2010, Ralf Resch, General Secretary of CEEP, addressed MEPs in the first meeting of the Intergroup on public services in the European Parliament. He stressed the fact that “the creation of such an Intergroup was broadly supported by CEEP as a means of consulting key stakeholders. Indeed, now that the Parliament is given legislative powers in the field of Services of General Interest, it is essential that future policies are based on the real needs of the providers of those services”.

“It is necessary to build on the positive achievements already attained in order to create legal certainty for providers and employers in SGIs. We also need an SGIs impact assessment before launching any further processes of liberalisation of network industries as those hinted by the EU 2020 consultation paper and the EU Council conclusions from December 2009”.

“CEEP is confident that the activities of the Intergroup will be driven by those principles and is ready and willing to give its concrete support by delivering the empirical base for the central role of public services in Europe” concluded Ralf Resch referring to the results of a mapping exercise that CEEP will present in the upcoming meeting of the Intergroup on 24 March 2010.

For further information, please contact:

Valeria Ronzitti, Director ‐ tel. +32 (0) 2 219 27 98