on behalf of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)

I. Introduction

This background paper discusses a number of legal questions which present itself in the context of calls for a legal framework (framework directive) on services of general (economic) interest. In light of the complexities of the issues involved and given that no formal Commission proposal for a framework directive or any other legal instrument exists as of today, the analysis will have to remain incomplete and at times speculative. The paper will focus on the possible objectives and contents of a legal framework which can be deduced from the political debate on such a framework in the European institutions and from four concrete proposals which have been published in 2006. This paper is organized as follows: It begins by sketching the route towards a legal framework on services of general interest through a summary of the positions of the European institutions and a brief introduction of recent proposals and their main objectives (II.). This will inform the subsequent legal analysis which is the core of the paper and which will address three major issues: First, which are the legal definitions of the key concepts of the debate, in particular services of general economic interest (SGEI) and services of general interest (SGI) (III.)? Second, is there a legal basis for a legal framework in the current EC Treaty and if so, which are its requirements (IV.)? Third, which would be the relationship between a legal framework and existing EC law, in particular competition, state aid and public procurement law as interpreted by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and could a legal framework modify this (V.)? The final section (VI.) will summarize the main findings.

M. Krajewski report