Legal status of rescue services and social services in Europe

Rescue services and social services are an important part of the so-called service of general interest. This obliges the state to create, ensure and further develop the social protection for guaranteeing reasonable living conditions of the citizens. The state has leeway for organisation, through which it can have services performed for the service of general interest.

Social services and rescue services are offered through many different bodies in the European Union. This ranges from state facilities to cooperatives. In all member states social and health services are also performed in certain areas by commercial bodies. Altogether an increasing trend to the economic nature of these services cannot be ignored.

For SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL this means,

• to cooperate as a network of European non-government organisations with European institutions,
• to get to know different procedures in Europe and be willing to accept changes in the European context,
• to contribute national standards and experiences into the European discussion,
• to develop the quality of its services through a quality control system and make these transparent for the users,
• to develop European indicators in order to make it possible to assess and compare the quality of the rescue services and social services.

The non-profit making providers of such services have an important political function as through their work they enable socially-outcast people to be integrated into society, and also offer social or health services, such as the rescue service, through the integration of volunteers where an activity is unprofitable for commercial bodies. Social services thus principally distinguish themselves from the services with the purpose of gaining a profit, which are subject to the regulations of the single European market.

SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL pleads for basic legal conditions on a European level for non-profit making social services, which

• enable a universal offer and equal access of the citizens to the services,
• guarantee security of care and continuity of services,
• take into account the variety of bodies and include the observance of independence of non-profit non-government organisations in objective and execution of the services.

The non-profit making social services must

• correspond with nationally defined quality standards,
• be under the public responsibility and democratic control,
• envisage possibilities of assistance for honorary workers and civil service organisation,
• not aim at generating profits and guarantee remuneration in line with the service.

These claims are to apply for the performance of social services and rescue services in all member states of the EU notwithstanding their respective different form owing to different cultures and traditions.