Rainer Plassmann, Secretary General of CEEP, warmly welcomes the decision of the Slovenian presidency to put climate change and the energy package on the agenda of the Tripartite Social Summit. “To put those issues at the centre of the tripartite social dialogue meeting at its highest level gives the necessary and clear sign that climate change is no longer a matter for environmental policies only. The real challenge is to create the conditions for an industrial renewal transforming the business patterns in many economic sectors”.

CEEP members are ready to face that challenge. Many of them are, due to their missions, directly or indirectly involved in economic activities which are at the core of any climate policy. Those are services in sectors such as water, waste, housing, transport, energy, tourism or administrative services, all of them aiming to protect our environment. .

Whatever their operating conditions, CEEP members have to manage the impact of new climate policies on employment. This involves the creation of jobs on the one hand, and on the other hand the need to anticipate and to adapt to change as a consequence of new production and service formulas.

“We believe”, Rainer Plassmann concludes “that our members will be able to successfully manage this process of modernisation of the services they deliver as they have already done in the past, confronted with other drivers of change, such as liberalisation processes. This means that they will have to use one of the best tools at their disposal: an effective and efficient social dialogue with their workforce”.
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For further information, please contact:

Inge REICHERT, Director of CEEP - tel. +32 (0) 2 219 27 98