Resumen de Social Services of general interest: the case for freater harmonisation of the competition and public procurement rules

Robin Barton

• The article examines the extent to which the European Union's public procurement provisons support the achievement of competition law objectives in respecto of social services of general interest (SSGIs). The Treaty of Lisbon 2009 has formalised the role of SSGIs within the definiton of EU citizenship through the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Meanwhile economic crises and demographic pressures are inevitably forcing Member States to enter into extensive SSGI liberalisation programmes. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Health and Social Care Act, while moderated from the Government's initial ambitions, has set the foundations for extensive liberalisation of the National Health Service. The European Union has recently concluded the modernisation of the State aid regime and its application to SSGIs; at he same time, negotiations continue to conclude reforms to the public procurement rules. This article argues that SSGI markets will continue to escape from meeting the objectives of EU competiton without greater reform of the public procurement rules.