This was the first question that Carl Cederschiöld, President of CEEP, asked President

Barroso during the Tripartite Social Summit today in Brussels. The Summit was mainly

devoted to the orientations of the EU 2020 strategy. He then turned to Presidents Zapatero

and van Rompuy requesting them to ensure that the key role that public services have in

reality is clearly emphasised in the EU 2020. “This is a prerequisite to achieve the targets of

EU2020”, Cederschiöld continued.

President Cederschiöld backed his request on the findings of a survey recently conducted by

CEEP. The expert survey showed that Services of General Interest contributes directly to

more than 26% of the EU GDP; public service employers employ more than 30% of the

workforce in the EU and have kept employment high throughout the crisis, with almost 80%

of them keeping employment at pre‐crisis levels or higher.

Mr Cederschiöld finally reiterated the mission of CEEP, “Serving the Public”, which includes

further improving the effective delivery of public services towards new growth oriented

investments, streamline of resources and improved the use of public private partnerships.

For further information, please contact:

Valeria RONZITTI, Director of CEEP ‐ tel. +32 (0) 2 219