EPSU and Social Services
Brian Synnot, EPSU, and Jean-Claude Le
Douaron opened the seminar by presenting the programme, its objective and the 
practical arrangements.
Brian Synnot presented the background
for why Social Services have to be put on the EPSU agenda. His presentation
outlined:
What are social services?
Who needs social services?
The growing demand
Social services in the
European union
Funding social services
Planning for coherent,
responsible social services
Who should provide social
services, and how can their quality be assured?
Download the reference text from the material section of this Home
Page.
Organisation of Social Services in EU member states
Jane Lethbridge from Public Services
International Research Unit (PSIRU) presented an overview of the Organisation
of Social Services in EU member states. The overview aimed to analyse private
sector participation in the social care sector and outlined the main trends in
the care sector and the national organisational and funding arrangements for
social care in Europe .
Jane Lethbridge provided also a European
policy overview and finally profiled key multinational companies active in the
care sector.
In working groups the participants discussed the following
questions:
What major changes have
been taking place in Social Services?
How have workers been
affected?
How have users been
affected?
How did trade unions deal
with these changes?
Download the working group reports in the
material section of this Home Page
Social Services as Services of General Interest
According to Laurent Ghekiere from Union
Habitat the European Commission has launched a consultation process on Services
of General Interest. Stakeholders in Social Services have asked for a
clarification and the Commission answered with a white book on Social Services
of General Interest. In the context of deregulation the Commission is working
on a text making state aid and subventions which for the time being are not
subject to call of tender. After a decision of the ECJ such subventions are
formally illegal. At
European level the increasing pressures of the internal market rules to the
sector were outlined. Participants recognised that central to this debate was
the categorisation of social services under EU legislation. The issue of
“services of general interest” and the appropriate definitions to use in their identification, were debated throughout the 3-day meeting.
Participants recognised that social services are best delivered when close to
the citizen, and based on idea of ‘social activation’.