Ralf Resch, General Secretary of CEEP headed the CEEP delegation at the social Troika meeting today, at the eve of the informal Council of the European Ministers in charge of Employment and Social Security.

During his intervention Mr Resch asked President Corbacho to play an active role on behalf of the Spanish Presidency of the Council to include public services at the core of the EU 2020 strategy.

“Public services” he said, “are amongst the biggest sectors, both in terms of economic significance and employment, and function as economic and social stabilizers all over the crisis. In particular, public employers’ are the engine for future employment growth and social inclusion and therefore it is unacceptable that they are totally missing form the EU 2020 consultation paper. We count on the Council to put the European Commission on the right track ahead of the March and June Councils”.

“We feel stronger in our call being reinforced by our employer colleagues of UEAPME and our counterpart ETUC. Both highlighted today the importance of high quality public services and infrastructures respectively to support good functioning and prosper SMEs and to secure the European social model in time of crisis”.

“We are confident that this appeal will be brought by the Spanish Presidency to the attention of the full EPSCO Council”, concluded Ralf Resch

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