All services of general economic interest are social in nature.

Nor can I see any initiative being taken on services of general economic interest.

I would therefore call for caution in making services of general economic interest open to the market.

Can Europe live without deep reflection on industrial policy and services of general economic interest?

The key issue is services of general economic interest.

But we have had no proposal for a directive on services of general economic interest.

This was our intention with the new horizontal rules on services of general economic interest.

But the scheme was justified under then Article 86(2), being a service of general economic interest.

We know that in reality tenders are not widely used for small services of general economic interest.

Services of general economic interest is more technical term for what are commonly called public services.

On services of general economic interest, the Commission has no competence to interpret the jurisprudence.

On the other hand, I believe that services of general economic interest should stay within the scope of the proposal.

Indeed, a framework directive on services of general economic interest raises three difficulties.

This is not just about the social clause, but also about important issues such as the services of general economic interest, which require special protection.

The communication on services of general economic interest or public services will be produced sometime this year.

Concerning the services of general economic interest, the Commission makes no apology for its actions to open up the network industries to further competition.

The services of general economic interest are retained, although, as we proposed, framed in a structure of their own.

For example, local services that are not economically viable can be supported through services of general economic interest.

Sixthly, the introduction of a legal basis for services of general economic interest.

The Commission's draft decision seeks to reduce the notification burden as concerns small services of general economic interest.

Many services of general economic interest, in particular social, which did not previously notify, would now have to notify.

In practice, this means that the citizens should have appropriate access to public services and to services provided in the general economic interest.

For many years now we have been discussing transsectoral European legislation in the field of services of general economic interest.

According to this decision, that exemption applies when social housing is qualified as a service of general economic interest by the Member State concerned.

Such a restriction on competition cannot be regarded as justified by a public service of general economic interest..."