Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-07-Speech-4-010"
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"en.20021107.1.4-010"2
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"Mr President, I want to put my voice mainly on the side of what Mr Harbour, Commissioner Bolkestein and others have said about the need to develop and improve the single market, particularly in the context of services and patents and other matters which have been discussed.
We must, however, bear in mind that the confidence of our fellow citizens in this process also depends on proper observation of what you might call boundary conditions. For example, the single market could clearly be pursued in a way which ignored environmental side constraints. That is not happening, but it is vital that this situation be sustained. The same applies for certain social conditions and constraints.
In relation to services, there is a nervousness among our citizens about public services and services of general interest. To what extent are these fully exposed to the single market conditions and to what extent are they properly kept aside?
I was looking today at Commission document COM(2002) 208 and just reflecting on what we mean by services of general interest. I note the following definition, at 3.1.5: 'services of general interest are defined in the Commission Communication on ‘services of general interest in Europe’ as being services which the public authorities class as being of general interest and subject to specific public service obligations'. I do not think I have ever come across such a fine exercise in tautology in a public document. A service is a service of general interest if the public authorities say that it is in the general interest, and that is how they define it.
Now, what that suggests is a certain conceptual lack of clarity. We have a notion that there is an area here which is subject to different conditions and constraints from that aspect of the market in services which lies fully in the private sector. If we do not get that right, we will definitely lose the confidence of our citizens. I have a large mailbag dealing with the fears people are now expressing about the way in which the general agreement on trade and services might be likely to go and the effect that could have on public services in Europe.
As well as being clear about the need to extend and improve the single market and what the limiting conditions are, let us try to get out of the realm of tautology and into clear thought."@en1
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