clarifying EU rules on how state aid, internal market and public procurement apply to social services, through an updated Guide and regular exchanges of information with interested parties

1. Given that social services of general interest (SSGI) make a major contribution to the achievement of the EU's goals, as enshrined in the Treaties, particularly in terms of promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion, calls on the Commission to use the evaluation and revision of the Monti-Kroes package to continue its efforts to clarify and monitor the application of Community rules in the field of SSGI, using a tailored approach which can easily be applied by organising public authorities and takes into account the specific ways ...[+++] in which social services are organised, their legal status and their strongly local nature, as well as the responsibility of the Member States for organising and financing these services;

90. Acknowledges the usefulness and the relevance of budget support, which in particular enables basic social services to be improved whilst, at the same time, helping to strengthen the structure of African countries; calls, however, for caution in relation to the disbursement of aid in the form of budget support; insists that budget support be treated separately for each country, depending on its particular situation and that it is not appropriate for fragile States or countries in conflict; calls for the establishment of indicators for human and social development, for gender budgeting and f ...[+++]or education and health; in this respect, encourages the Commission to continue drawing up its proposed "MDG contract" with the intended beneficiaries of budget support; insists that budget support must be accompanied by the strengthening of the capacity of parliaments, national courts of auditors, local authorities and civil society to scrutinise the process, so as to avoid basic social services becoming under-resourced; proposes that budget support should not replace support to certain key development sectors such as education and health or sectors that risk being marginalised by recipient governments;

90. Acknowledges the usefulness and the relevance of budget support, which in particular enables basic social services to be improved whilst, at the same time, helping to strengthen the structure of African countries; calls, however, for caution in relation to the disbursement of aid in the form of budget support; insists that budget support be treated separately for each country, depending on its particular situation and that it is not appropriate for fragile States or countries in conflict; calls for the establishment of indicators for human and social development, for gender budgeting and f ...[+++]or education and health; in this respect, encourages the Commission to continue drawing up its proposed "MDG contract" with the intended beneficiaries of budget support; insists that budget support must be accompanied by the strengthening of the capacity of parliaments, national courts of auditors, local authorities and civil society to scrutinise the process, so as to avoid basic social services becoming under-resourced; proposes that budget support should not replace support to certain key development sectors such as education and health or sectors that risk being marginalised by recipient governments;

89. Acknowledges the usefulness and the relevance of budget support, which in particular enables basic social services to be improved whilst, at the same time, helping to strengthen the structure of African countries; calls, however, for caution on the disbursement of aid in the form of budget support; insists that budget support be treated separately for each country, depending on its particular situation and that it is not appropriate for fragile States or countries in conflict; calls for the establishment of indicators for human and social development, for gender budgeting and for education ...[+++] and health; in this respect, encourages the Commission to further elaborate its proposed “MDG contract” with the intended beneficiaries of budget support; insists that budget support must be accompanied by the strengthening of the capacity of parliaments, national courts of auditors, local authorities and civil society to scrutinise the process, so as to avoid basic social services becoming under-resourced; proposes that budget support should not replace support to certain key development sectors such as education and health or sectors that risk to be marginalised by recipient governments;

E. whereas social services of general interest are not protected against the application of Community internal market and competition rules, whenever they are provided under market conditions, and whereas they are profoundly affected by changes to the way services are provided, funded and regulated,