European Union

Defending Public Services in Europe

Sign the on-line petition

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has launched an on-line petition to defend public services in the European Union. The petition calls for EU-wide legislation to protect public services from privatisation and from liberalisation and competition policy under the EU's Single Market.

The petition reads:

"Public services are essential for social, economic and regional cohesion in Europe. Such services must be of high quality and accessible to everyone. Until now, the only options put forward for developing public services have been privatisation or liberalisation (namely in sectors such as Energy, the Post and Telecommunications). It is time to find different solutions!

For this reason, we are calling on the Commission to propose European legislation on public services designed to:

Give priority to the general interest embodied in public services;
Ensure that everyone has access to public services;
Strengthen public services in order to guarantee citizens’ fundamental rights;
Guarantee more legal security so as to allow the development of sustainable public service missions;
Give public services a firm legal basis and thus immunity from ideologically motivated free market attacks."

Sign the petition here: http://www.petitionpublicservice.eu

You can find out more about the campaign to defend public services in the European Union here:

Link to an external website European federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)

Link to an external website European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)

For more information contact UNISON International Officer, Nick Crook on 020 7551 1219 or n.crook@unison.co.uk>