Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-044"
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"en.20060926.3.2-044"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to pay tribute to the work of our rapporteur, Mr Rapkay, which has helped to revive this debate on services of general interest. I support completely his proposals to create greater legal certainty for social services of general interest. I also support those on the provision of high quality services throughout the EU at optimal cost, respecting social balance and guaranteeing lasting security of supply.
I am however much more sceptical when it comes to asking the Commission for clarification on applying rules regulating competition and the internal market to public services. Mr Barroso, whom I would like to thank for attending the debate, has just confirmed for us the supposed benefit of this competition for consumers.
As the rapporteur has pointed out to you, since public services lack a clear legal framework, their funding and management are dependent on uncertain circumstances offered to us in turn by the Commission and the European Court of Justice, which change hats as they see fit and act interchangeably as judge, legislator and executive.
For at least 15 years now Parliament has been asking the Commission to legislate. What have we achieved? The Commission is proposing a choice between a simple communication to strengthen the legal certainty of these services and a multitude of sectoral directives.
Personally, I want a framework directive: a legal framework giving services of general interest a positive and not simply dispensatory status, and one that the market competition rules will then be bound to respect. Key sectors such as education, health and water must not be liberalised, and mixed circumstances must be allowed for where social, economic and environmental concerns are interlinked.
Services of general interest reinforce citizens' feeling of belonging to Europe. They are a key element of solidarity and play a part in pursuing social rights. I do not want a Europe in which the European model is based only on fiscal and social competition between states. With this framework directive, I want to take Europe beyond the mere market, towards a society in which all public services are guaranteed as key factors in social and territorial cohesion."@en1
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