“Social and healthcare services. A contribution of the Churches and Church organizations to the European social model” was the theme of a meeting held on 18 October, and organized by the European Commission, the Church & Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Secretariat of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). Attended by some 50 representatives of the European Commission and Parliament, European Churches and church-related organizations (including Caritas and Diaconia), the seminar focused on current discussion on the Services Directive in the European Parliament, the recent Communication on social services and the current Consultation on healthcare services. The Churches emphasized that their activities as social and healthcare providers represent a crucial part of their identity and reiterated their support for the exemption of healthcare services from the scope of the Services Directive. With regard to the Commission’s initiatives, the participants stressed the difficulty of separating social services from healthcare services and supported a more holistic approach. The Churches expect that these initiatives concentrate as much on the quality of services as on their financial sustainability.
