23 June is Public Service Day. As European trade union leaders, we call out the public services emergencies that Europe is facing. Public services are reaching breaking point: hospitals and care services struggling with staff shortages, classrooms are overcrowded, local administrations asked to deliver more with less, and transport systems and public infrastructure carrying the cost of years of underinvestment.
The workers who keep these services running know what this emergency means in practice: unfilled vacancies, higher workloads, deteriorating working conditions, burnout and violence. For communities, it means longer waiting times, understaffed services, delayed emergency responses, neglected schools and unreliable public transport. Europe is weakening the very systems it needs to face the challenges ahead.
Public services are infrastructure, not expenditure
Public services are too often discussed in EU and national capitals as expenditure. However, they are the infrastructure allowing people to work, learn, travel, receive care, access their rights and live with dignity. They are essential to tackling poverty and social exclusion, allowing people to remain in their communities and access the support they need throughout their lives, which Letta called “right to stay.”
And finally, they’re what allows Europe’s wider political priorities to function: quality jobs, competitiveness, preparedness, social cohesion, climate action, education, fighting poverty, care, transport, public health, democratic resilience and a fair transition. That requires resources and long-term vision.
Europe cannot afford another round of austerity
Countries are again being pushed towards austerity. After the suspension of fiscal rules during the pandemic, budget restraint is returning as the default answer. The pandemic may be over, but Europe’s challenges are still there.
Austerity after the financial crisis damaged public services, weakened working conditions and reduced the capacity of states to respond to social needs. Public investments were reduced. In many countries, public services never fully recovered.
The EU’s fixation with liberalising public services has led to the private sector cherry-picking its most “profitable” parts for the markets. But when business turns sour, public authorities are left to intervene to prevent service collapse and disruption. In other words, taxpayer money being used to rescue public services from the ever failing experiment that is liberalisation – a “hidden austerity”.
Today, Europe faces climate emergencies, demographic change, labour shortages, energy insecurity, geopolitical instability and digital transformation. How can we expect already overstretched public services to meet these challenges while budgets are being cut? How can communities be protected when more and more resources are being channelled into military spending while public services remain underfunded?
Strong public services are Europe's best preparation
The contradiction is impossible to ignore. The EU speaks of preparedness, competitiveness and resilience, but none of these goals can be achieved without strong public services.
Preparedness is not only about defence spending. It is about hospitals that can cope, emergency services that are fully staffed, schools that can support every child, public administrations that can deliver rights, transport systems that connect communities and utilities that are reliable, safe and publicly accountable.
The EU speaks of competitiveness, but no economy can be competitive if workers cannot access housing, childcare, education, healthcare, care services and transport. Businesses rely on public infrastructure, skilled workers, regulation, research, local services and functioning administrations.
Cutting public services does not make Europe stronger. It makes Europe less able to deliver its own agenda.
Workers are demanding a different model
Workers are fed up and taking action. On 18 June, workers from across Europe will gather in Madrid for an ETUC Euro-Demonstration organised with Spanish unions CCOO and UGT to stand up against deregulation and austerity. They will stand up for another model, one based on higher wages, quality jobs, workers' rights, social protection and investment. Public services are central to that model.
Quality public services need quality jobs
Quality public services need quality jobs. This means fair wages, safe staffing levels, collective bargaining, social dialogue, trade union rights and protection from violence, harassment, burnout and excessive workloads.
Across public services, staff shortages are driven by years of underinvestment, low pay, deteriorating working conditions, insecure employment and growing exposure to third-party violence. These problems make recruitment and retention increasingly difficult.
The EU and its Member States should listen to the workers who keep our communities going. Economic governance rules must be suspended and reformed - so they no longer force cuts to public services. Public service capacity should be assessed in the European Semester, including staffing levels, access, service quality, working conditions and collective bargaining.
The resources exist. What Europe needs is fair and progressive taxation, including on the insane wealth of a small group. We need determined action against tax avoidance and evasion to finance the public services people depend on. No public contracts should go to companies not paying their fair share of tax.
A choice for Europe
Public services are also a democratic question. When they are undermined, insecurity grows and trust weakens - and the far-right thrives on these failures. Strong public services tackle the root causes of insecurity, bring people together as equals and demonstrate that democracy can deliver in everyday life. They are the strongest antidote to hate and exclusion.
On Public Service Day, Europe faces a choice. It can continue to praise public services while treating them as costs. Or it can recognise them for what they are: the foundation of a fair, democratic and resilient Europe. The Commission must act with an action plan on public services and deliver the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The path forward is not another round of austerity. It is investment, quality jobs and public services for all.
