Legislation

The approach to SGI has evolved in recent years. It is characterised by increased liberalisation and consumer safeguards, and an intensive exchange of views on European citizenship and European values. Key elements of SGI are their accessibility to the public, price affordability and quality.

In May 2004, the Commission adopted a White Paper on Services of General Interest based on the conclusions drawn from contributions to its Green Paper on Services of General Interest (2003). The White Paper announced a "systematic approach in order to identify and recognise the specific characteristics of services of general interest, together with the social and health services of general interest, and to clarify the framework in which they operate and can be modernised.

In July 2005, the Commission adopted the Altmark package (‘Altmark’ refers to a German bus company awarded state aid), a Commission Decision (based on Article 86(3) of the EC Treaty) that specifies the conditions under which compensation to companies for the provision of public services is compatible with state aid rules.

As a first step towards the above mentioned systematic approach, the Commission adopted in April 2006 a Communication on social services of general interest in the European Union, providing a first indication on the specific characteristics of this sector, giving some guidance on the application of Community rules, and announcing a new consultation of Member States and stakeholders to prepare the further steps in this process.

The consultation process initiated by the Communication showed that, at this stage, most of the difficulties experienced in the application of Community rules are not caused by the rules themselves, but rather by the fact that these rules are not well known or are misunderstood by public authorities and service providers. There is, therefore, a clear need to better explain the rules applicable to these services, but not necessarily to change them. The results of the consultation process were presented during a forum on social services of general interest, organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the EU in Lisbon, in September 2007.

The resolution of the European Parliament (A6-0275/2006 of 26 September 2006) completed the large round of consultation of EU institutions and stakeholders initiated by the 2004 White Paper. The resolution supports the underlying principles and priority actions set out in the White Paper. It states that it is not possible to define services of general interest uniformly, and does not call for a single horizontal legislative framework, but calls on the EU and the Commission in particular to continue acting in various domains and sectors so as to achieve greater clarity and consistency of EU rules, while fully respecting the principle of subsidiarity.

The Communication on services of general interest, including social services of general interest, adopted in November 2007, crystallises the results of this consultation process.