Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-26-Speech-2-018"

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"Madam President, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, you have emphasised, Mr President, that every country of the Union has its own history and its own conception of public services. The construction of Europe should indeed be undertaken with due deference to this diversity but should also be rooted in a set of common values centred on social justice, equality and solidarity. We can formulate a framework for a European public service. Such a service cannot be defined from the perspective of competition, for we know that the benefits derived by society from public services are measured in terms of education, health, security and cohesion among Member States and among their peoples. As has been mentioned, we shall shortly adopt a directive opening up the market in services within the Community. We are familiar with the issues relating to the market in services at the WTO negotiations. In the Community, as at the global level, it is imperative that we should be able to draw a legal distinction between commercial and non-commercial services and to establish freedom to provide the former and rules to regulate the latter. Is it right that health, education, social housing and even water supply should be subject only to the law of profitability? Of course not! There is but one valid imperative – that of the general public interest and social progress for everyone. And the public authority, at whatever tier of government, is the sole guarantor of that general interest. The people of our countries rightly fear that the European project is being eroded by liberalisation and globalisation. We must meet their needs for quality, accessibility, social responsibility and respect for the environment. What better guarantee can we offer to our concerned fellow citizens, Mr President of the Commission, than a European legal framework for public services?"@en1

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