European Economic and Social Committee

PRESS RELEASE No 5/2008 / 23 January 2008

European Economic and Social Committee

Collectif SSIG-FR holds conference

On 28 January, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will host a conference organised by the French alliance for social services of general interest("Collectif SSIG-FR"), a think tank made up of social and health service providers which contributes tothe European debate on social services of general interest (SSGI).

At 11.30 a.m., Dimitris Dimitriadis, the EESC president, and Michel Delebarre, the CoR president, will open the conference which will mark the presentation of a joint publication on social services in the internal market of the 21st century and the new situation created by the Reform Treaty.

There are a number of events surrounding the conference. In November 2007, as part of the revision of the internal market, the European Commission adopted a Communication on Services of general interest, including social services of general interest: a new European commitment. The Commission is also getting ready to present a legislative proposal on healthcare to address the exclusion of health services from the scope of theServices Directive, although without directly referring to social services.

This therefore raises the question of an internal market in social services. According to the Collectif SSIG, the conference will be an opportunity to identify the issues at stake in the Commission's new initiative and to revitalise the European debate on SSGI, in preparation for the French presidency beginning in July.

The event is being organised in partnership with six European SSGI organisations. MEPJoëlHasse-Ferreira (PES/PT), Jean-Louis Destans, CoR member (FR/PES) and President of the Regional Council of Eure, andRaymond Hencks, EESC member (Employees Group, Luxembourg), will attend as SSGI rapporteurs for their respective institutions.

In the foreword to the publication, Dimitris Dimitriadis, the EESC president, stresses that "The European Economic and Social Committee has a key role to play in getting the European institutions and civil society organisations involved in services of general interest. Within the Committee, the permanent study group on services of general interest regularly contributes to the European debate, by drawing up high-calibre opinions and taking part in and organising events on related issues".Michel Delebarre points out that "The European local and regional authorities that the CoR officially represents within the European Union are more specifically concerned by the discussion on the European future of these services, since they have a democratic mandate to respond to general interest-related objectives and responsibilities in their management of them".

For more details, please contact:
Karel Govaert at the EESC Press Office,
99 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels
Tel.: +32 2 546 9396/9586; Mobile: +32 475 75 32 02
Email:
Website:
Press Releases:
(English)
(French)
The European Economic and Social Committee represents the various economic and social components of organised civil society. It is an institutional consultative body established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. Its consultative role enables its members, and hence the organisations they represent, to participate in the Community decision-making process. The Committee has 344members, who are appointed by the Council of Ministers.