EU: The trend in European business towards outsourcing could have serious repercussions if it extends to public bodies such as local authorities and the health service, MEP Proinsias De Rossa told the European Parliament yesterday.
responding to a report by fellow Socialist Group member Bernard Rapkay, Mr De Rossa said the competitive entrepreneurial market was seeing a lot of services being contracted out to specialist companies. But he said with public bodies such as the health services, there was an inherent danger standards would slip in public hospitals.
"Today's debate by the European Parliament indicates that there is a broad consensus on the role and importance of ensuring all European citizens have access to high-quality public services. Indeed, the participation of President Barroso in today's debate reinforces the importance of this issue. It also indicates, I hope, the commission's commitment to finding the best-possible solution to the inevitable tension between citizens' desire for quality public services and the demands of a competitive entrepreneurial market," he said.
"I particularly welcome President Barroso's reassertion of the European Union Treaty requirement that the citizen's right to have access to high-quality public services takes precedence over the demands of the single market . . . This is the only way we can ensure that the European Union is more than a crude market place.
"Codecision, which gives this parliament full involvement in the legislative procedure, is absolutely necessary to give the legislative process the credibility and legitimacy it needs in this sensitive area," said Mr De Rossa.