On June 28, Social Platform met with Proinsias De Rossa MEP, rapporteur of the own-initiative report on the future of social services of general interest. The meeting was part of the consultations he is carrying out with stakeholders.

Universal access to services for everybody, the need to adapt Community law to social services, the different kinds of social services providers, quality of services, the division of competencies between member states and the EU are some of the issues that were debated.

Key messages arisen from the debate:

• De Rossa is working with the Belgian presidency to put pressure on the Commission and member states to make concrete proposals to define a coherent legal and quality framework for social services.
• “Services of General Interest are a matter of subsidiarity, but competition and public procurement law have an impact on social services. The principle of subsidiarity is not an argument for the EU not to do anything”.
• The Commissioner for Competition, Almunia, showed some openings in view of according more flexibility to state aid rules applicable to services of general interest.
• De Rossa thinks more flexibility should be accorded to non profit actors providing social services.

You can view the report of the meeting.