Commission aims for legal certainty on social services

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 20/04/06

After excluding social services from the revised draft of the services directive, the European Commission is set to tackle their development in a separate communication on Wednesday (26 April).

The aim is to make it easier for member states to anticipate the impact that EU law will have on social services of general interest, which include healthcare, long-term care, social security, employment services and social housing.

According to a Commission official, the communication will act as a "first step" in discussions on how to classify such services.

"It will identify the characteristics of social services of general interest and there will also be some text on the different fields of community law and how they relate to these services," the official said.

He said that the communication would not delve into specifics at this stage, and that it was still uncertain whether the final draft would signal firmer legislative action.

The way in which EU rules on liberalisation and state aid - aimed at creating an internal market and competition - interact with social services has so far been a legally grey area because they are considered to be essential public services but can also constitute economic activity.

Queries over specific cases have had to be resolved in court, which has led to complaints that there is not enough legal certainty for member states wanting to finance the modernisation of their services.

Rainer Plassmann, secretary-general of the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP) said that he was hoping for an analysis that would give member states clear legal interpretation.

"We need clarification on the place of social services in a more open market with guarantees and principles," he said.

A spokesman for the social services campaign group Social Platform said that the Commission should go further.

"What we would like to see is a legal instrument...to clarify how social services relate to the EU legal framework such as competition and internal market rules," said Simon Wilson, the director.

"Social services are a different kind of market from the traditional commercial market and their treatment should reflect this."

But those close to the situation say that it could be tricky to get any solid legislation approved, as there is a political gulf between member states on the issue.

"All agree that there is a need for clarification but how the Commission should actually get there is another matter," said one source.

This gulf was already apparent during the battle over the services directive, where MEPs were divided on opening up services of general economic interest to foreign competition, but eventually agreed to exclude them.

France and Belgium are said to support a framework laying out the rules on social services, and some member states would support group action under the EU 'enhanced co-operation' procedure which allows a group of at least eight member states to go ahead with a proposal.

But many countries are opposed to any hard line from the Commission and would simply prefer legal guidelines, the source said.

Thérèse de Liedekerke, director of social affairs at UNICE, the business association, said: "Clarification is welcome but there is no place for EU rules in this area; social services are a national competence."

Article reports that after excluding social services from the revised draft of the Services Directive, the European Commission was set to tackle their development in a separate communication, to be presented on 26 April 2006. The aim was to make it easier for Member States to anticipate the impact that EU legislation was to have on social services of general interest, which include healthcare, long-term care, social security, employment services and social housing.