On Wednesday 14 October, Rainer Plassmann, CEEP President, and Valeria Ronzitti, CEEP General Secretary, addressed the Tripartite Social Summit (TSS) videoconference. In presence of, amongst others, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, CEEP called for the clear recognition of the role played by services of general interest during the COVID-19 crisis and on the path to recovery.

During the opening round, CEEP President Rainer Plassmann said:

“We fully support the Commission’s ambition to further strengthen Europe’s resilience by empowering its structural ability to foster a fair and inclusive twin-transition and we are reassured to see such rapid progress from the Council.”

“Overall, we call for a clear recognition of Services of General Interest by all Member States as the key ingredient to making society resilient to future crises. This is proved by the projects that our members are presenting to their governments in the context of the National Recovery Plans.”

“Finally, CEEP calls for the EU institutions to propose solutions and mechanisms to address and sanction breaches of the rule of law and to make sure our recovery is made into a real democratic process involving social partners and essential service providers in every step.”

Taking the floor during the open discussion, CEEP General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti commented:

“CEEP calls for the strong involvement of social partners in the implementation of the Next Generation EU and the Multiannual Financial Framework. We welcome the commitment of Council President Michel to carry this message to the upcoming European Summit, and count on Member States to include social partners in the design of the national Recovery and Resilience plans.”

At the occasion of the TSS, CEEP also presented a first version of a compilation of investment plans submitted by CEEP members from across Europe to the National Recovery Plans, highlighting the expected impacts on the overarching priorities of the EU.

For further information, please contact:
Maxime STAELENS, Communication Advisor
Email: maxime.staelens@ceep.eu
Tel.: + 32(0) 2 229 21 40
Website: www.ceep.eu

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CEEP, European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services and SGI, is one of the three general cross-sectoral European Social Partners. It gathers public and private providers of services of general interest from across Europe. CEEP members contribute to more than 26% of EU GDP and employ 30% of the EU workforce.