European Parliament plenary vote
Statements
ETUCE statement on the proposed Services Directive, February 2005
Background documents
Proposed model letter to MEPs in IMCO, May 2005
Proposed model letter to be used nationally, February 2005
ETUCE working paper on trade with education: “Will the EU Commission’s proposal for a Services Directive result in education being subject to market forces?”, February 2005
ETUCE background document explaining some of the complicated legal issues: “Trade in Educational Services in the EU Internal Market”, Feburary 2005
The proposed Services Directive
Other campaign material
Follow national initiatives…
Read the statement of Sindacato Nazionale Scuola CGIL:
ETUCE campaign to exclude education from the Services Directive
On this section of our website, you will find all the statements, press releases, background documents and other campaign material produced on this issue.
ETUCE respons to the second reading of the Services Directive
On 15 November, the European Parliament approved – in their second reading of the Services Directive – the common position reached by the Council of Ministers on 24 July 2006. No amendments to the political or legal aspects of the Directive were made in this second reading.
Throughout the nearly three years which the debate on the Directive has lasted, ETUCE and its affiliates have campaigned extensively for amendments to the Directive that would safeguard the quality of the education systems against the potential negative effects of the Directive and ensure that Member States remain fully in
power of regulating the education sector.
In comparison to the legal uncertainties surrounding the education sector in the initial draft Directive presented in January 2004, considerable progress has been achieved in what will now be the finally adopted version of the Directive, although concerns remain.
Campaign documents spring 2006:
Vote on the Services Directive – ETUCE welcomes progress, but deep concerns remain!
ETUCE welcomes the progress marked by exclusion of some areas of the education sector such as the national education systems, but remains greatly concerned over the inclusion of other parts of the education sector.
With a view to the debates currently going on in the Council of Ministers in their efforts to reach political agreement on their position on the Directive, ETUCE remains vigilant in pursuing a complete and unambiguous exclusion of all education services from the Directive.
ETUCE Demonstration in Strasbourg
On 14 February, ETUCE and participants from 21 ETUCE member organisations took part in the great ETUC EuroManif demonstration, which saw up to 50.000 European trade unionists on the streets of Strasbourg. The overall objectives of the demonstration were to secure the European social model and fight against the original ‘Bolkestein-directive’. ETUCE joined the demonstration to fight for a complete exclusion of education from the Services Directive.
On the morning of the event a meeting with teacher trade union leaders from ETUCE member organisations and several MEP’s took place in the European Parliament.
