Services of general economic interest: opening up Pandora's box

Over the past ten years, the topic of services of general economic interest (SGEI) has given rise to ample debate at the European level. This has most recently resulted in the adoption of a Protocol to the Lisbon Treaty, and a proposed amendment of the EC Treaty extending the legislative powers of the European Parliament and the Council to the sphere of SGEI. In a recent TILEC DP, which is now published in the European Law Review, Wolf Sauter (TILEC, Dutch Healthcare Authority) discusses the concept of SGEI against the background of a fundamental tension between the Member States' wish to obtain a broad public service exception on the one hand, and the European Commission seeking to avoid opening a Pandora's box that could threaten the application of market freedoms and competition rules on the other. Special attention is given to position of universal service obligations as a key element of SGEI. In his paper, Sauter proposes a structured test for creating future SGEI. Market failure arguments will be key in defining the legitimate, necessary scope of future SGEI, so as to attain the relevant public interest objectives. By extension, the road to liberalisation and market based-provision of remaining services is opened.