By Martin Banks - 2nd February 2010
What if the villagers do not want to have to go to the supermarket to visit the doctor?
Carola Fischbach Pyttel
Jose Manuel Barroso's commission has been accused of almost "abdicating" its social policy responsibilities over the last five years.
A conference organised by the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Brussels on Tuesday also heard that the so-called EU2020 strategy for jobs and growth "needs a social dimension".
The demand was made by Carola Fischbach Pyttel, secretary general of the European Federation of Public Service Unions.
She said, "If we take the analogy that the EU is a village then for the last five years, the commission has been putting all its efforts into building an enormous supermarket at its centre – the internal market.
"But it has lost sight of the other elements that make up a village community. It seems to have forgotten that a village will only function if all the essential services are available.
"Some would say that the situation is even worse – namely that the commission is trying to force these services to operate inside the supermarket.
"But what if the villagers do not want to have to go to the supermarket to visit the doctor? To have their childcare needs met? To get their water?"
She said that since the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, "these rules to protect public services do exist, at least on paper".
She added, "The last five years of disengagement have been close to an abdication of the commission's social policy responsibilities. It has left the social dialogue mechanism damaged."
The meeting of the 'PES social Europe network' is designed to generate debate on social issues before the new commission takes up office later this month.
The meeting heard of a need to press for "affordable and high quality" public services and the "transformation" of unemployment protection systems.
