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LOCAL SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST IN EUROPE. WATER SERVICES: WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?
Author(s) -
BAUBY Pierre
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
annals of public and cooperative economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-8292
pISSN - 1370-4788
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8292.2012.00477.x
Subject(s) - water industry , public interest , business , commission , corporate governance , diversity (politics) , water sector , process (computing) , public sector , european commission , water supply , public administration , economic policy , political science , economics , european union , finance , economy , engineering , environmental engineering , law , computer science , operating system
This study was conducted within the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission ‘Public Services/Public Enterprises’ project on Local services of general economic interest. Compared to other sectors, the process of Europeanization has distinct features in the water field. At EU level, water policy is rather founded on the respect of common ambitious quality standards based on public health and environmental protection norms than the creation of an ‘internal market’. Therefore, the evolution of different models of governance, organization and supply have undergone specific changes. This study focuses on local and national diversity of water services and the broad outlines of current challenges and developments. It concludes that a key challenge is to guarantee the competent public authorities’ freedom of choice of management modes.