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.
