On 22 November Eurofedop organised a Working Breakfast in the European Parliament. Secretary general Bert Van Caelenberg explained the objectives of this meeting; raising awareness and start actions with regard to the issue of migration of health care professionals in Europe. The breakfast was a jointly organised event with HOPE, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation and was attended by some 15 Members of the European Parliament (MEP's).
Among the present MEPs were the following: Adamos Adamou (Cyprus), Milan Cabrnoch (Czech Rep), Othmar Karas (Austria), Miroslav Mikolásik (Slovakia), Hubert Pirker (Austria), Laszlo, Surjan (Hungary), Jaroslav Zverina (Czech Rep), Paul Rübig (Austria), Jean Lambert (UK) and Reinhardt Rack (Austria).
The European Commission was represented. DG SANCO's Daniel Mann gave a brief overview of the situation of migrating health care workers in Europe.

Two health care professionals participated and clarified the problems in their countries. Mr. Jevgenijs Kalejs, a doctor from Latvia, explained that Latvian health care workers mainly migrate to the UK and principally for economic reasons (i.e. higher incomes). Ms. Jolante Toliusiene, a nurse from Lithuania, said that although most employees rather work in a hospital in their home country, there is a strong economic motive for (too) many professionals to leave and look for higher salaries elsewhere (EU15, Norway, US).
These two examples clearly illustrated the problems that occur in a large part of the region of Central and (South-) Eastern Europe, the new member states of the EU. During the discussion, this tension between the fundamental principle of 'free movement' and migration flows from recently acceded member states into EU15 was further emphasised.

Adamos Adamou, Cypriot MEP

Irena Belohorská, MEP and coming from Slovakia, stated that this problem is entirely a question of money. In other sectors, where salaries are higher and pension schemes more secure, the exodus of personnel is much less visible. Ms. Belohorská stressed that the answer to this (economic) problem lies with politicians.

Luc Van Roye, VOV (Vereniging Openbare Verzorgingsinstellingen, B);
Irena Belohorská, MEP;
Miroslav Mikolásik, MEP.

On 14 November the Liaison Forum took place in Hotel Bedford, Brussels. Head of Unit Social Dialogue, DG Employment and Social affairs of the European Commission, Jackie Morin, chaired this meeting in which the future actions of the European Commission were presented. Recently, Mr. Morin gave a presentation on the European Social Model, at the Eurofedop preparatory meeting in Luxemburg (21 September). At the Liaison Forum, the emphasis was put on two major topics that are currently subject to debate throughout the entire European Union, namely Flexicurity and Demography. Naturally, Eurofedop is already active in both fields; the issue of demography comes back repeatedly in all our meetings, mainly in preparation of our Congress in April 2007.

Jos Kester, Policy Coordinator of the European Employment Strategy (Unit D2) explained the next steps the commission will take in the area of flexicurity. He defined flexicurity as follows: "A political strategy to enhance at the same time the flexibility of the labour market, work organisation, labour relations and the employment and social security". It seems a definition that contains conflicting concepts, but, according to Jos Kester, this is only the case when these concepts are viewed in an old fashioned way. It was emphasised that we should focus on 'transitions' (between education and work, work and household, different jobs etc) and that flexicurity equals transition security.

Eurofedop sent a delegation to Belgrade, Serbia, to attend a seminar in which all Serbian member organisations participated. Among the guests were Ms. Jasmina Damjanović, Deputy Director of the Government secretariat for legislation and Mr. Milan Božić, Chairman of the managing board of Telekom Srbija.

Eurofedop was present at the well-attended Forum on Europe’s Demographic Future, organised by the European Commission. The event brought together some 400 experts, policy makers and stakeholders from all over Europe and from all fields.
After its Greenpaper entitled ‘a new solidarity between generations the Commission published its Communication ‘from challenge to opportunity’ on 12 October 2006. The Forum on Demography was organised to support both the Greenpaper and the Communication. The policies in the area of integration, gender equality, migration and active ageing have been identified and the European Commission now feels that it is time to move on to gradual implementation of these policies.

At the European Health Forum Gastein, the health attaché of the German Permanent Representation to the EU, Frank Niggemeier, as well as Mr. Schulte and Mr. Kummel of the German Ministry of Health announced the upcoming German Presidency priorities. The German Presidency (January 2007 – June 2007) will be the first one that is part of a “team presidency”. This means that three countries, namely Germany, Portgual and Slovenia (whose Presidencies follow Germany’s), will work together over the 18 months period. This new approach seeks to build in continuity as regards the content of strategies and policies. As such, the team members will work together on various issues and will jointly organise conferences and events.

Goals of the upcoming German Presidency

The main priorities of the upcoming German Presidency are:

• Focusing on the demographic change in the EU;
• Health in achieving the Lisbon goals;
• Agreeing an EU constitution;
• Developing Europe’s social model.

As regards health, the Germany's Presidency will have three key themes:

• Health promotion;
• Innovation;
• Access to healthcare.

The Presidency will aim to:

• Finalise the health action programme until 2013;
• Develop a Community framework on health services;
• Implement International Health Regulations;
• Co-operate with the WHO on health promotion;
• Develop pandemic preparedness further;
• Co-operate with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control;
• Adopt Council conclusions on AIDS and civil society prevention (obesity).

Strategies of the upcoming German Presidency

There will be a pilot project on patient information on pharmaceuticals with respect to diabetes during the German Presidency (looking at what information on pharmaceuticals can be provided to the patient without advertising the product). A report on this issue will be published in 2007.

The German Presidency will look at access to healthcare:

• The Presidency will feed into the pharmaceutical forum;
• Work on the draft Regulation on “advanced therapies”;
• Work on the ongoing review of medical technology Directives.

The German Presidency will look at Communications expected to be proposed:

• Communication on alcohol (Oct 2006);
• Communication on smoke free environments (end 2006);
• Communication on organ donation and transplants (no date confirmed as yet).

The Presidency will work on expected Commission White Papers that will be issued in March / April 2007 on:

• Physical activity and nutrition (obesity);
• Mental health; and
• Prevention (in general).

The Presidency will work on expected Commission Recommendations on:

• Injuries;
• Health care and associated infections;
• Patient safety.

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions organised a seminar on finding the right balance between working time and work and family life. The past three decades the foundation has carried out a lot of study work related to how workers combine their work and family lives. This has been carried out in the light of the EU's policy developments regarding working time (the working time directive) and the changing forms of employment (part-time work etc) and within the overall framework of the Lisbon Strategy.
Though coming from different backgrounds, the speakers agreed that the working time discussion is really about the issue of health and safety.
The seminar, which was initiated mainly from within the PES group in the Parliament, and the Foundation, invited speakers from employers' as well as workers' organisations and politicians (national and European).
Working time was a topic that was discussed extensively. There was a general opinion that the 'individual opt-out' which allows workers to work longer than 48 hours (in agreement with the employer) is wrong, this was particularly coming from employees' and political sides. This opt-out was introduced under pressure of the British government and was therefore referred to as a UK solution rather than a European one, by José Silva Peneda, MEP.
The second issue discussed was the concept of work-life balance, obviously closely intertwined with the issue of working time. The concept of work-life balance applies to workers of all ages and not just specifically to parents with young children. The ways in which families are composed have changed drastically in Europe, as well as the paths people take in their lives when it comes to education and jobs. The traditional path of education-employment-retirement has been reassessed. Today, learning does not stop when one enters the labour market; on the contrary, we are striving more and more for life long learning.

In the year 2006, once again an important step has been taken in world history, within the Council of Europe, by granting a more participatory status to the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO). Indeed, the INGOs are more and more considered a partner for the discussion and their president takes more and more part, as the 4th pillar of the Council of Europe, in the "quadrilogue".
However, this also meant that great changes had to be made in the work scheme ... the INGOs having passed from a "consultative" to a "participatory" status ... Eurofedop has mainly cooperated in working out the organisational aspect, more specifically in the elaboration of new work schemes that had to allow INGOs to give in time serious advices on certain themes to the Committee of Ministers, the decision-making body of the Council of Europe.

Being a founding member of Health First Europe, Eurofedop attended the annual general members meeting which was held in the Renaissance hotel in Brussels. During this meeting, Secretary General Bert Van Caelenberg was elected member of the Executive Committee of Health First Europe. This means he will be advising the General Assembly as well as examining membership applications.
The meeting contained some interesting elements, namely a presentation by Martin Dorazil from the European Commission, DG Health and Consumer Protection, health strategy unit (C5). Mr. Dorazil pointed out the Commission’s activities on health issues, and mainly elucidated the consultation on health services that the Commission launched late September. The consultation process closes in January 2007, naturally, Eurofedop will be participating too. In response to Bert Van Caelenberg’s question about the problem of the migration of health care professionals within Europe, Mr. Dorazil confirmed the seriousness of this issue.
Before moving on to the elections of the Executive and Advisory boards, HFE presented its renewed website (www.healthfirsteurope.org) and the upcoming activities for the last months of 2006. An overview of the activities in the past year was given too. It is obvious that the members are of the utmost importance to Health First Europe, for they define the organisation’s raison d’être.

On 18 October, Commissioner McCreevy announced the plans of the European Commission with regard to the liberalisation of postal services. The conclusion was as we feared : the complete liberalisation of postal services in January 2009. With this new proposal of the Commission, there will be no monopolies anymore on ‘reserved services’.
Eurofedop holds on to its position as determined at its Trade Council Post in Dubrovnik in June 2006 and as explained in its letter to delegates of the European Parliament and members of the European Commission. Eurofedop rejects any form of competition on the basis of the deterioration of social acquisitions and rejects any notion of cancellation of reserved services.
As regards the Universal Service Obligation, the Commission states that this should be preserved. The member states can decide themselves on flexible ways of financing the Universal Service Obligation. Eurofedop worries deeply about the quality of Universal Service Provision after the market will be fully liberalised.
Eurofedop underlines that a great responsibility rests on the shoulders of national trade unions to pronounce and defend these standpoints in their respective countries. On its part, Eurofedop will go on lobbying at European level, first of all next week at the plenary session in Strassburg. Also within the European Joint Committee Post, we will put forward and defend these standpoints through our delegation.

The debate on the controversial ‘services directive’ is in full swing again. Last spring, the Council reached political agreement, and the second reading of the European Parliament was opened on 13 September. Currently, amendments are being considered. At the core of the debate are sensitive issues such as the exclusion of (all) services of general interest. In the first reading, the EP voted on leaving the choice up to the Member States to define which services belong to the category of SGI and (some) services of general economic interest were left in the Draft directive. Today, some argue that SGI are by their very nature non-economic and should thus entirely be excluded. This is being counter argued by saying that we have to accept that this text will be a compromise, that has come from far, and that we should not put this compromise at risk. The political agreement reached in the Council, is a balanced compromise, of which the content is very close to the Parliament’s first reading.
The proposed amendment (made by Evelyne Gebhardt, MEP) of excluding all SGI from the scope of the directive, is of course of interest to Eurofedop. It does not seem likely, however, that this fragile compromise will still undergo huge modifications like that, according to Charlie Mc Creevy, Internal Market Commissioner.

On 09-12 October, the European Commission (DG Regio) and the Committee of the Regions organised the 4th edition of the ‘Open Days’, a week which is completely dedicated to development, innovation, competitiveness and sustainability of the regions in Europe. Participants from over 135 regions in Europe could attend and participate in seminars and workshops throughout the city of Brussels. Eurofedop attended a seminar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) in regions. European Commissioner in charge of Regional Policy Ms. Danuta Hübner held a speech and underlined the complexity of partnerships between players in the public and the private sectors. She explained that the public sector does not have the capacity to carry out large scale projects.

To quote the EU Commissioner Ms. Hübner: “To be brutally frank, we do not think we can make it without private capital joining us”. Other speakers at the meeting were Mr. Maxime Bureau from General Electrics, Mr. Olivier Debande from the European Investment Bank and finally Mr. Jan Olbrycht, MEP, who chaired the seminar. Although some of the participants tried to focus more on the public side, and on the quality of services delivered by the public sector, the focus was obviously more on companies and large investors. Successful examples were given of Private cooperation with public such as the lighting of cities or hospitals, or the security of prisons. All speakers agreed on the fact that PPP’s that involve additional EU funding are even more complicated to execute than those who do not.

On 15th September, day of the public service, the Common Action Group for the Public Service organised a study day in Bern. Central to the discussion was a study that had been performed by KOF, the economic research centre of the Federal Polytechnic of Zürich. The study had been ordered by the Conference of Ebenrain. This scientific study analysed for the first time, in a thorough way, the economic impact of public service provisions in Switzerland. The study came to the following surprising but clear conclusions : public service provisions contribute considerably to the economic prosperity and increase notably the productivity of a market economy. Other international comparative studies have shown the high efficiency of the public services in Switzerland and the importance of high-quality public services for the advantages linked to the special place of Switzerland. The study furthermore confirms two statements : the private sector is not more productive than the public service and there is no relation between the level of taxes and the economic growth.

While protesters fill the streets of Budapest, and the attention is on them, the current government of Hungary takes measures by which the civil service and the public service are completely dismantled.

The personnel of ministries, as well as teachers and health care workers are the victims of these measures.

The loss of ± 5,000 full-time jobs is operated in a way that no respect is shown for the ‘Acquis Communautaire’, namely for the social part of it.

However, in order to be allowed to join the Union, the country also had to sign this social part. Now that it is a member, it uses the EU’s convergence programme for justifying and imposing its austerity measures.

Last week, the European Commisson announced that the EU will have two new member states in January 2007. Bulgaria and Romania are situated in South East Europe and for a while, it did not seem like they would join the Union that soon. However, last week, the negotiations between the EU and the two candidate countries reached a crucial stage and the date was set for accession.
The monitoring reports show that both countries are getting closer to fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. Despite the significant progress that has already been made, there remain areas where both countries still need to achieve more progress.

Dear Colleagues

You will be aware, following recent press and media coverage that POA members working in prisons in England and Wales have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, up to and including a strike. You will recall that in 1993 the Tory Government removed trade union rights for Prison Officers and returned them in 1994, with restrictions. This included a law that criminalised Prison Officers or any who induced this, to take industrial action. Labour in opposition promised to return full trade union rights to Prison Officers.

Although, the offending Section 127 was removed from statute in 2005, it was only done on the insistence that the POA signed an Industrial Relations Procedural (no strike) Agreement. The POA has witnessed Prison Service Management's attempt to influence the so called "independent" Pay Review Body and prevent disputes being placed before any independent arbiter on a number of occasions, all of which is in breach of the so called 'legally binding Agreement'. The Union believes we should have all trade union rights returned immediately, the right to collective bargaining and to take industrial action in the furtherance of a dispute.

The European Social Model is not an obstacle but a positive and essential element in the EU's process of economic growth. The parliamentary committee on Employment and Social affairs has put forward an initiative report on a European Social Model for the future, which reflects a common set of values implemented in different ways in the member states. We are pleased to learn that MEP Pennada (EPP-ED) and MEP De Rossa (PES) are bargaining to get the Social Model high on the EU agenda and that they initiated a profound rethinking of the concept as such. They stress that in order to restore the citizens' confidence and trust in the European project, the social model needs to be reformed and renewed.

In addition to this, they underline the fact that the social dialogue is a vital if not indispensable element in the tradition of the European Social Model. They call for a revitalisation and a greater role of the social dialogue and trialogue at European level. Furthermore, the rapporteurs encourage the member states to implement the 'flexicurity' systems in order to simultaneously guarantee job security and flexibility (mobility) for the employees. The idea behind this system is that employees get the opportunity to obtain and keep a position through the improvement of job-mobility and life long learning. The European Social Model needs reform, and this is not going to be an easy process. EUROFEDOP understands the fact that employment and social policy remain broadly within national competence, but also subscribes to the opinion of the parliamentary committee that there is need for the EU to create a stronger economic and social framework, to allow member states to implement reforms as necessary at national level but according their own economic, social and political circumstances.

The report on a 'European Social Model for the future' (A6-0238/2006) defines the wishes of the employment and social affairs committee. It calls on the Commission to: better balance the economic coordination on the one hand, and employment and social protection on the other hand; democratise the Open Method of Coordination, to ensure that also the national parliaments play a full role; to incorporate the social dimension in its impact analysis in accordance with the social clause provided for the draft constitutional treaty; to respect the social economy and to present a communication on this cornerstone of the European Social Model.