14-10-2004: USSP/CESI extremely sceptical about the White Paper on services of general interest

The USSP/CESI, the Association of Public Sector Trade Union of the CESI, is extremely sceptical about the proposals on services of general interest put forward by the European Commission in its White Paper in the spring.
According to Klaus Geiser, rapporteur on public services and vice president of the USSP/CESI, competition law should not be permitted to take precedence over public services. This was said to be shown by the numerous reactions to the Green Paper last year. "It is regrettable, that the Commission has not taken this into consideration in its White Paper", says Geiser. "The Commission has noted a supposed consensus, aimed at ensuring harmonious cooperation between market mechanisms and public welfare tasks. USSP/CESI is unable to discern such a consensus."
In the view of the independent trade unions, substantial areas of public services are not compatible with competition and the opening up of the market. Moreover, the transparency rules announced by the Commission would call into question local self-administration in cases of doubt. "Under no circumstances can USSP/CESI accept this danger, owing to the high value it places on local self administration", the USSP/CESI vice president stresses.