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The future of public services in Europe By Catherine Needham and Alasdair Murray Prepared by Catalyst and the Centre for European Reform Across Europe there is a rising sense of crisis over the ability of governments to adequately fund and provide public services. Governments fear that demographic and technological changes will make it increasingly difficult to guarantee universal services. Many assume that electorates are becoming less willing to pay for new services. Governments are also finding that European Union budgetary and competition rules are increasingly constraining the way they provide services. In the support they provide for shared values of equality and solidarity, public services can be seen to lie at the heart of the European “social model”. Their future is thus of particular concern to public service trade unions – not only in providing employment to their current and future members but also in upholding the principles and advancing the kind of society that trade unions have traditionally stood for. In April 2005 the UK public services union UNISON and its German equivalent Ver.di came together at a special seminar in London to discuss joint strategies for promoting public services across Europe. This discussion document prepared by Catalyst and the Centre for European Reform seeks to outline some ideas on how the debate over public services might evolve over the next decade, with a particular view to stimulating productive thought and discussion as to how public service trade unions can best respond to these challenges. “This paper explores the most vital public service issues and looks ahead to see where different policy directions will take us. Its purpose is to stimulate a discussion of how trade unions can best respond to these challenges and to identify our common ground as the basis for a developing a strategy to champion public services.” - Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON and Frank Bsirske, President, Ver.di Catherine Needham is a Lecturer in British Politics at Queen Mary, University of London and Director of the Public Services Programme at Catalyst. Alasdair Murray is Deputy Director of the Centre for European Reform and has written extensively on Europe’s institutional and economic reform agenda. “Europe’s largest unions vow to fight for improved public services” – |
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