This book provides a comprehensive examination of the interaction
between Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI) and EU competition
law, covering in particular Article 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU) and state aid rules. It also takes the
telecommunications, postal service and transport sectors as case
studies, taking into account the technological, economic and political
backgrounds to these sectors.
The area of SGEI has undergone fundamental developments over the past
three decades and the most recent changes in the Lisbon Treaty,
recognizing SGEI as a shared value and granting explicit competence to
the EU, mark its constitutional significance. The key issue is how to
balance economic values underlying competitive markets and non-economic
public service values such as universal access to essential services.
The essence of the question is the relationship between the market and
the state. This controversial issue is addressed through a critical
analysis of a number of landmark EU Court judgments and Commission
decisions over the decades.
Offering a clear appreciation of the evolution of the EU regulatory
framework on SGEI that lays out the limits and boundaries within which
the Member States define, organize and fund SGEI, the book is
particularly aimed at academics with a research interest in the
interaction between public services and EU competition law, but as it
also demonstrates clearly how the application of EU competition law has
transformed the public utilities sectors, it will be of interest to law
makers, legal professionals and policy makers as well.
Dr. Lei Zhu is a Research Associate at the Institute of International
Law at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China. He studied at the Institute for
Competition & Procurement Studies of the Bangor University Law School in
Wales, United Kingdom, where he obtained his PhD in law in 2015.
