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BackProfit orientation rather than best possible supply and service – this is probably the top priority of the European Commission in respect of its economic and social policy. A draft Directive on so-called service concessions shall obviously increase the pressure on municipalities to award contracts which, with good reason, have always been provided by the public sector, to private undertakings. In a first ballot this week, the course of the European Commission in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament was supported by a business-friendly majority.
The European Commission drew up the draft Directive on service concessions in such a complex manner that many municipalities might decide in favour of inviting services such as water supply and disposal or waste collection to tender. Hence, the Directive will result in significant additional administrative costs such as legal advice fees, new publication requirements or complicated calculations within the scope of the service. In particular smaller municipalities might be overwhelmed by this and give in to the pressure of the profit hunters.
In a conference, jointly organised by the Hans Böckler and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation as well as several trade union organisations, the speakers took a very critical look at the ever increasing deregulation and privatisation tendencies. In a much-noted statement, Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker put the current situation in a nutshell: the municipalities would be the cradle of democracy. This, however, was at risk if their services would be handed over to the private sector. The claim, that privatisation would improve everything could not be confirmed by empirical evidence. But it could be frequently observed that services would become more expensive and that negative effects, away from an economic point of view (for example child poverty, higher level of crime), would be completely ignored. Weizsäcker also pointed out that profit orientation by all means would only exist since the end of the Cold War in the late eighties. Because then, capital still had to pay attention to maintain socio-political balance. Now that this was no longer necessary, the market had taken to blackmailing the legislator and to push for further steps towards liberalisation.
Other speakers, such as Annelie Buntenbach of the German Federation of Trade Unions, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation or Dieter Schulte of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation also strongly criticised the liberalisation course of the Commission.
It certainly looks as if the representatives of the Commission attributed far more importance to the interests of individual business enterprises than to the interest of society. With regard to the European Parliament, there is still the chance in the leading Internal Market Committee that the proposal for the Directive on service concessions will be rejected. The vote will probably be taking place in January 2013.
In a conference, jointly organised by the Hans Böckler and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation as well as several trade union organisations, the speakers took a very critical look at the ever increasing deregulation and privatisation tendencies. In a much-noted statement, Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker put the current situation in a nutshell: the municipalities would be the cradle of democracy. This, however, was at risk if their services would be handed over to the private sector. The claim, that privatisation would improve everything could not be confirmed by empirical evidence. But it could be frequently observed that services would become more expensive and that negative effects, away from an economic point of view (for example child poverty, higher level of crime), would be completely ignored. Weizsäcker also pointed out that profit orientation by all means would only exist since the end of the Cold War in the late eighties. Because then, capital still had to pay attention to maintain socio-political balance. Now that this was no longer necessary, the market had taken to blackmailing the legislator and to push for further steps towards liberalisation.
Other speakers, such as Annelie Buntenbach of the German Federation of Trade Unions, Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation or Dieter Schulte of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation also strongly criticised the liberalisation course of the Commission.
It certainly looks as if the representatives of the Commission attributed far more importance to the interests of individual business enterprises than to the interest of society. With regard to the European Parliament, there is still the chance in the leading Internal Market Committee that the proposal for the Directive on service concessions will be rejected. The vote will probably be taking place in January 2013.