Munich, 29/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Government of Bavaria has reiterated in a paper it has just adopted that it shares the concerns voiced by other German Länder about the fate of services of general interest in the EU, given the imperatives of competition policy as conceived by the European Commission. The Bavarian Government proposes that the Intergovernmental Conference on EU institutional reform now in progress adopt Treaty amendments that take these concerns into consideration. Bavaria's Minister for European Affairs, Reinhold Bocklet (who was an MEP for several years), asserts that Articles 16 and 87 of the EC Treaty should be amended to state that non-remunerated activities must be excluded from state aid controls and that aid should be authorised for remunerated services of a general interest to ensure that citizens' needs can be met. According to the paper, the Communication adopted on 20 September by the Commission on services of general interest cannot replace the Treaty amendments being requested by Bavaria, especially because a simple Communication does not guarantee the necessary legal certainty (for more on the Commission's Communication, see EUROPE of 21 September, page 7). Mr Bocklet considers "particularly problematical that the Commission continues to demand competence for the definition of content and the development of services of general interest" and that it wishes to monitor the provision of these services, their quality and their compatibility with competition.
In its 20-page paper, the Land of Bavaria indicates the sectors that pose a problem in this context: regional banks and savings banks, water and energy distribution, public transport and public radios. It observes that "other cases of possible conflicts" could emerge in the areas of charity works (care for non-hospitalised patients, transport of patients, etc.), culture (theatres, for example) and education (nursery schools, primary school).
In view of the above, Bavaria proposes:
(1) the addition to Article 16 of the EC Treaty (which asserts that, without prejudice to Articles 86 and 87, and given the importance of services of general economic interest among the Union's shared values, the Community and its Member States, each within their own realm of competences, must "ensure that these services function on the basis of principles and in conditions enabling them to accomplish their missions") of a new paragraph 2 stating that the Community respects the rights of Member States or authorities within Member States (such as Länder) to decide for themselves whether, and at what scale, these services apply and to which citizens' needs they refer;
(2) the addition to Article 87 of the EC Treaty (on state aid) of: - a new paragraph 2 stating that public aid for structures which do not have economic objectives and which provide services of social, cultural or charitable interest in a Member Stare (particularly services in the areas of public security, social security and health) are excluded from state aid controls; - a new section (d) stating that aid that is used to meet specific needs of the population and are clearly not disproportionate with the cost they entail are compatible with the common market.