Brussels, 17/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved a report on services of general interest for the Laeken European Council, announcing new measures to increase legal certainty and transparency in the application of state aid rules to the funding of services of general interest and an improved evaluation system for such services.
The report, prepared at the request of the European Council of Nice, confirms that the existing Treaty rules are flexible enough to take account of the specificities of services of general interest, and stresses that the completion of the internal market and the gradual liberalisation of the network industries have made a significant contribution to improving the performance of a number of services of general interest. In terms of state aid, the Commission will in a two-phase approach first establish guidelines in 2002 for state aid granted for services of general economic interest; and to the extent that it is justified by the experience gained in the application of the guidelines, the Commission will then adopt legislation exempting certain types of aid from the obligation of prior notification to the Commission (block exemption). The Commission will examine additional measures to further clarify the Community rules and principles applicable to the selection of the provider of services of general interest. The latter point is disputed within the Commission. EUROPE understands that Commissioners Lamy, Barnier and Reding have expressed doubt about its necessity, while Commissioners Bolkestein, Monti and de Palacio want the EU public tender rules to be clarified in terms of selecting a service supplier. In order to ensure effective evaluation of services of general interest at EU level, the Commission will develop a system of annual horizontal evaluation and will publish a Communication outlining an evaluation methodology.
The Commission has already set out its general policy orientations in this area in two Communications on Services of General Interest in Europe, in 1996 and September 2000. The current report does not replace the earlier Communications but complements them by addressing concerns raised after the adoption of the Communication, signalled Commission spokesperson Jonathan Faull.