The members of the Public Services Employers’ Forum (PSEF), representing Public Services and Services of General (Economic) Interest (SG(E)I) employers and providers, are looking forward to the new legislative term and would like to take this opportunity to introduce their role and priorities with a view to future dialogue with European Union (EU) decision-makers.

Public services and SG(E)Is are a cornerstone of the EU Social Model and of democratic societies; they have a central role to play in ensuring the citizens’ quality of life, contributing to informed citizenship, supporting the development of European businesses and contributing to the growth and competitiveness of the EU.

The quality and access to essential services such as education, energy, healthcare, public service media, public transport and services provided by local and regional governments is instrumental to the realisation of our common objectives, and we, PSEF members, are committed to doing our part in balancing the economic and social dimensions of the EU.

In the context of the identification of the new political priorities for the EU, we call for Public Services and SG(E)I providers to be placed at the heart of the project for a striving Europe, as their empowerment should be a key issue in every single Member State.

The Public Services Employers’ Forum would like to highlight the following priorities:

Developing social dialogue
Strong social partners’ organisations are instrumental for the successful implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). All European social partners’ organisations aim to strengthen social dialogue at all levels, in order to reflect and respond to the needs of more diverse economic and social situations. However, the degree to which social partners have been involved in the design and implementation of relevant reforms and policies, as stated in the principle 8 of the EPSR[1], still varies from one Member State to the other. Identifying strong representative organisations and supporting their capacity building remains a key objective to ensure successful participation of social partners.

We, therefore, call for a continued and stronger support by the European institutions to social partners and particularly seek stronger political support in creating autonomous employers’ organisation in the public services sphere at the national level.

Full the read text of the statement here.