CEEP at the Tripartite Social Summit on the Future of Europe
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This afternoon (8 March 2017), at the Tripartite Social Summit in presence of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Council President Donald Tusk and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, CEEP General Secretary Valeria Ronzitti and the President of CEEP Maltese Section Joseph Farrugia presented the views of employers of public services on the future of the EU and charting the course towards growth, employment and fairness.
“You can be sure of our commitment to contribute to upcoming debates and reflection papers on the Future of the EU, in particular on the social dimension and on the deepening of the EMU. The Commission’s guiding principle in this regard must be: ”economic policies are social policies, and social policies are economic policies”, to quote Commissioner Thyssen.”
“CEEP will also consult its members on which option or combination of options we favour from the White Paper on the Future of the EU. But we can already exclude scenario 2 – the reduction of the EU to the sole Single Market – as it goes against our ”raison d’être”, both as social partners and as providers of SGI. The Single Market is a tool to achieve sustainable growth, social and territorial cohesion. It is NOT an end in itself.”
“President Tusk, the Council now has a great responsibility, as the Commission’s White Paper rightly puts the debate in your hands. In this regard, our wish in CEEP is that you will not leave the debate on the Future of the EU before having collected 27 signatures, starting from the upcoming Rome Declaration.”
“There is now a need to set up a framework to foster investment and financing the real economy, including public services. According to our Pulse of Public Services, 44% of the respondents are still reporting difficulties to fund their activities as one of their top challenges. Member States with fiscal space should enable necessary investment in public infrastructure and Member States who have been granted flexibility have to use it for long term investment, and not for short-term priorities.”
For further information, please contact:
Maxime STAELENS, Communication Officer
Email: maxime.staelens@ceep.eu
Tel.: + 32(0) 2 229 21 40
CEEP, European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services, 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.