On the year of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, CSOs reassert the centrality of public services to the achievement of human rights and gender equality.
Tag: public services
Public investment is high on the political agenda in the European Union—but not for those who need it the most. The companies, often very profitable, extracting or refining critical raw materials or developing green, digital, military and other strategic technologies have ample access to it. While all this shiny technology gets a lot of political attention, the public services citizens rely on to live decent lives—such as affordable housing, energy, water, healthcare or food—are however rather ignored.
A call to the European Investment Bank, by Frank Vanaerschot
Last month, the European Parliament hosted a landmark, Beyond Growth conference. As European trade-union federations representing public-service workers across Europe, we believe that this concept, of going ‘beyond growth’ towards wellbeing within planetary boundaries, may hold the key to a different Europe.
Many who spoke during the conference stressed the role of ‘universal basic services’ at the core of an alternative—moving away from the commercialisation of public services and commodification of all aspects of life, reclaiming democratic public control and imagining an economy orientated towards human rights that works for people and the planet. With the European Parliament elections a year ahead, the political parties are well-advised to take up these concepts and demand that the next European Commission’s work programmes be based on this perspective.
The rise of public-private partnerships (PPPs) has deeply affected the delivery of public services and infrastructure projects across the world. In this opinion piece, experts from Eurodad, Latindadd and APMDD highlight why we must move away from this failed model and promote public options to build a future that is public.
By Océane Blavot (Eurodad), Rodolfo Bejarano (Latindadd), Mae Buenaventura (APMDD)
Published by Eurodad
Drawing on the specific case of IMF and World Bank’s response to the multiple crisis triggered by the pandemic, a journal article shows that there is a discourse-practice disjuncture in the Bretton Woods institutions approach to public services as they continue to favour austerity and market-oriented solutions for the delivery of public services. The article therefore seeks to demystify the institutions rhetoric and demand the adoption of a different way of understanding public services, and social policy more broadly.
Read Eurodad’s article
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