Brussels, 14/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is expected to adopt its Green Paper on services of general interest (SGI) on 21 May. this document launches a reflection on the status of services of general interest, following the opening up to competition of the network industries (post, energy, transport, telecommunications) and their role in the European model. The objective is to underline balance between competition, finance and service access and cover. In this perspective, it posed a number of questions regarding Community competencies, the services being targeted, access rights, which have to be guaranteed, financing and access prices, regulation authorities. Consultation will be finished by autumn 2003 and followed by Commission proposals. The draft paper does not at this stage take a position on the need for a "framework directive" on services of general interest but does harbour some reservations about the opportunity for "horizontal" legislation, which risks being too general to be operational.
France voiced this concern during the Summit of Barcelona in the context of debates on the liberalisation of electricity and gas. It will also be feeding into the work of the Convention. It particularly involves outlining the legal remit of Article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which includes the right to access of services of general interest, as well as the operational links between Article 16 of the current treaty, indicating that the Community and its Member States, "ensure that these services function on the basis and in the conditions that allow them to accomplish their objectives" and Article 86, which points out, "companies in charge of managing services of general economic interest or which display a fiscal monopolistic character will be subject to the rules of the current treaty, notably the rules governing competition". The document has been the subject of wide-scale consultation with in the Commission services, with advocates of "total competition" with respect for the rules of the internal market opposed to those defending territorial cohesion and consumer protection.
Scale of Community intervention: the draft Green Paper asks whether the development of SGI of quality ought to be a Community objective and whether it should be given specific competencies beyond those that are currently defined in the rules of the internal market, competition, State Aid, transport, social and economic cohesion and tax. It also asks whether it is necessary to clarify the different levels of responsibly (administrative, national, regional and local) and set up a "European Regulator".
General or sectoral framework: the document looks at the need to consolidate in a general framework the principles set out in the different sectoral legislation (post, telecommunications, transport, gas and electricity). It also asks which sectors should be covered (commercial or non-commercial SGI?) and what instruments (legislative or others, such as recommendations?).
Definition of "obligations": reflection focuses on the inclusion of other obligations other than those currently defined in the different sectoral legislation (universal services, continuity of service, quality of service, affordable prices, consumer and user protection). It asks whether they should be extended to the sectors where they do not currently apply and whether this regulation for these obligations should be at a Community or Member State level. The Green paper also looks at the need for dealing with the new obligations at a Community level, in connection with plurality in the media, security of supply, access to networks and inter-connection.
Organisations: the Green paper opens the debate on the need to specify the organisation acting for the SG (public procurement or concession, for example) at a Community level. It notes that Member States are now subject to European public procurement rules but have considerable autonomy for defining public service obligations, which leads to noticeable disparity in the water sector, for example.
Finance: at the heart of the problem on "State Aid" and competition, reflection focuses on the way of financing "additional costs" linked to public service obligations: direct public support (subsidies or tax incentives), exclusive rights (notably by way of legal monopolies), contributions from market participants, equalisation of prices (setting a single price for whole territory), social contribution. The Green Paper does not take side for one or other of the modes of finance.