Utrecht June 6th 2014Research Partners Workshop Service User and Workforce Involvement: the European

Dimension Stephen Bach

King’s College, London Stephen.bach@kcl.ac.uk

With financial support from the European Union

Presentation structure • Phase 1 aims:

- perspectives social partners/NGOs on research themes

• Definitions/ambiguities civil society

• EU turn to civil society:- implications and outcomes

• Sectoral social dialogue

• Relationship: social dialogue and citizens’ dialogue

Research Phase 1

• Interviews with EU stakeholders:- social partners & civil society representatives

• Challenges/opportunities inclusion of service users in institutions//practice SD

• Examine activities EU sectoral social dialogue committees

Terminology

• Customer• Consumer• Client• Service user• Citizen• Stakeholder... Civil society

Term favoured in EU discourse e.g. European Citizens’ Initiative -Citizens’ Dialogue -Involvement civil society

Civil society - ambiguous

• Opposition to the state? Tea Party movement

• Complementing the state? The Big Society/3rd sector etc

• Civil society organisations (working definition):- established voluntarily by citizens- organised around the promotion of an issue(s)- autonomous from the state/supra-state- organisations do not aim to maximise profits

EU: The Turn to Citizens Aims

• Context since 1990s

• Widen stakeholder input into policy:- EU democratic deficit & legitimacy deficit?- ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ policy making stakeholder inclusion

• Achieve ‘better’ policy outputs and practice:- involvement of wider interests - effective service delivery

Implications

• Transmission belt for citizen concerns?

• Wider legitimacy & more inclusive than SPs?

• Participative v. Representative democracy

• Aspiration: bring EU closer to its citizens

White Paper on governance (2001)

• Diagnosis:- Many people feel alienated from the Union’ s work (p.7)- the goal is to open up policy-making and make it more inclusive and accountable. A better use of powers should connect the EU more actively to its citizens and lead to more effective policies (p.8)- civil society plays an important role in giving voice to the concerns of citizens and delivering services that meet people’s needs(p14).

• Prescription: It is a chance to get citizens more actively involved in achieving the Union’s objectives and to offer them a structured channel for feedback, criticism and protest

• Concrete measures?

Treaty of Lisbon TFEU (2009)• Art. 11.2 The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and

regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.

• European Citizens’ Initiative [ECI] (2012) (Article 11.4):- invite Commission to issue legislative proposals - policy initiation remains with the Commission

• Process- Citizens’ Committee (7 member states)- 1m signatures; minimum 7 member states; one year

• Results: Water is a human right (1.9m signatures)- against liberalisation/privatisation

Responses and outcomes• Civil society activated by the EC – access, resources

- variations between DGs in terms of engagement

• Civil Society Contact Group represents:- ‘large rights and value based NGO sectors’- 8 umbrella groups e.g. European Public Health Alliance

• Social platform (1995): 49 Social NGOs:- campaign on employment, social justice- include voices excluded by trade unions - alliances with ETUC – Spring Alliance- seek institutionalised civil dialogue

A contested contribution

European social dialogueTFEU – Lisbon 2009

• Union as a whole to promote role of social partners at EU level - Tripartite Social Summit (Art 152 TFEU)

- consultation of social partners by the Commission & support for their dialogue (Art 154 TFEU)

- ‘contractual relations’ including agreements, can be concluded by the social partners (Art155 TFEU)

• Sectoral social dialogue: 41 committees- Hospitals and Healthcare (2007)- Education (2010)

Sectoral Social dialogue: Challenges

• Variable involvement and results:- between countries - between social partners – employer engagement- achieving effective outcomes/national follow-up

• Impact of the crisis:- resources and participation- sensitivity of austerity measures- EU budget saving measures

Activities sectoral SD Committees

• Hospitals and Healthcare/Education:- relatively new especially Education (2009/10)- establishing the employers’ side e.g. EFEE- employers often government ministries - member state competence- SD one of several priorities (e.g. HOSPEEM)

• Sectoral social dialogue and service user pressure:- does not register directly as a priority in SD- indirectly – role of parents/pupils improving school governance/leadership

Social partner perspectives

• Employers:- service user pressure or involvement- degree of autonomy influences scope to involve users

• Trade unions: - Ideology: Individualised conception of involvement: consumer rights perspective - collective orientation: services of general interest - Legitimacy: representative v. participatory democracy: independence - resources made available to civil society organisations - SPs are integral to civil society

Discussion

• Increased role for civil society in EU policy making

• Relationship social dialogue (SD) to civil dialogue(CD):- academically/policy terms separate spheres - CD: primary concern EU governance - SD: primary concern worker voice/social Europe

• Response of social partners to CSO:- Substitute? - Complement? - alliances on specific issues? - Ignore?

• Connection EU level to national/workplace level: - same debates and issues ?