Services of General Economic Interest as a Constitutional Concept of EU Law

Abstract

This book offers a legal understanding regarding the core elements of SGEI (Services of General Interest), and of how the post-Lisbon constitutional framework on SGEI affects the application of the EU market rules by the EU Court of Justice, including procurement rules, to public services. It is built up of three parts, namely Part I: No Exit from EU Market Law for Public Services, Part II: SGEI as a Constitutional Voice for Public Services in EU Law, and Part III: The cost of loyalty, the relationship between EU procurement and state aid legislation on social services and the Treaty rules on SGEI, ending with a case study of Swedish systems of choice. Analyses are also provided on how the EU legislator engages in the Europeanisation of social services through EU procurement and state aid rules that have an ambiguous relationship to the Treaty framework on SGEI. Some explanation to this ambiguity is proposed by studying how the application of EU state aid rules could hinder the development of Swedish systems of choice liberalizing publicly-funded elderly care and school education. Included are propositions on crucial but yet unsettled legal questions, in particular what the legal meaning and relevance of the notion of economic activity in EU market law are and which core elements characterize SGEI. This book is therefore mainly aimed at legal academics and practitioners but may also be of interest to political scientists. Caroline Wehlander studied at Umeå University and holds the title of Doctor of Laws. She lives and works in Sweden. Introduction: the Constitutionalisation of the EU Concept of SGEI as a Story of Exit, Voice and Loyalty for Public Services in EU law -- "Economic Activity": Criteria and Relevance in the Fields of EU Internal Market Law, Competition Law and Procurement Law -- The Importance of SGEI in the Post-Lisbon Treaties -- SGEI as a Ground for a Special Regime in the Case Law of the CJEU Related to Public Services -- Meaning of the EU Concept of SGEI Emerging from the CJEU Case Law -- Conclusions of Part II: SGEI Emerges as a Broad "voice" in EU Constitutional Law -- EU Legislation on Public Procurement and State Aid: What is the Pressure on Member States to Enforce SGEI Principles in the Field of Social Services? -- Social Services under the Competence of Swedish Local and Regional Authorities: SGEI? -- Compatibility between EU Secondary Law on SGEIs and Systems of Choice in Swedish Law: the Cases of Elderly Care and School Education -- Conclusions of Part III: EU Market Governance of Social Services a Democratic Issue.