October 2008, by David Hall (PSIRU)
A report commissioned by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)
Introduction
This paper is a summary of three reports commissioned by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) dealing with the subject of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Europe. It covers the development of PPPs and sets out a framework for:
a critical evaluation of PPP proposals;
positive initiatives for the improvement of public services and (...)

THE ETUI MONTHLY FORUM, 25 November 2008, 12:30 - 14:00h
Protecting workers in privatisation and outsourcing: some lessons learnt from Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) and the liberalisation of public services
How does the privatisation and outsourcing of public services in Europe impact on performance and employment? How have Private Public Partnerships affected the working conditions for those employed in this sector?
The liberalisation and privatisation of public sector activities (...)

The report - School Meals Market and Quality - was issued by EPSU affiliate Unison from the University of Cardiff. The report explains in detail how the market for school meals functions and how the ruthless pursuit of profit damages the quality of the meals, working conditions and health of children.
[Press release
>http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=704] (...)

(September 2, 2005, Brussels ) EPSU today urged European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Charlie McCreevy to take concrete measures to correct the ’pro-Public Private Partnership (PPP)’ bias in the European Commission. (see letter attached). One of the key messages was to say that the EU needs to develop a coherent approach to PPPs, based on a real assessment of their costs and benefits. EPSU is highly critical of the Commission’s analysis of the responses to the consultation (...)

EPSU’s initial response to the Green Paper on PPPs is critical of the Commisison’s narrow focus for the consultation excercise. The Green Paper is concerned only with competition policy and extending the Internal Market in public services and the more fundamental questions regarding the social and economic value of PPPs are ignored. EPSU’s initial reponse, which will be discussed at the Executive Committee meeting in September, calls on the Commsision to address the risks and problems (...)

The European Commission has published on 4 May 2004 its Green paper on applying Community law to Public-Private Partnerships. The aim of the Green paper is to "open a wide debate allowing to determine whether a EU intervention is necessary to ensure better access for economic operators within the Member States to the various forms of Public-Private Partnerships, within a frame of legal clarity and effective competition". However EPSU questions whether the wide debate will be a genuine and (...)