Organizational Challenges of the (Local) Water Supply in the European Union Member States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/13.3.765-787(2015)Keywords:
water supply, natural resources, models of organization of the water supply sector, liberalization and privatization considerations in the water supply sector of EU Member States, types of market competition, water services concession, public servicesAbstract
The authors discuss challenges of water supply in the European Union and the Member States, which mainly refer to local systems. The Member States retain autonomy in the water supply, however European Union general rules, and in particular the competition rules, are used for 'soft' liberalization (and privatization). The authors expose complex public policy issues of water supply; taking into account characteristics of the water sector. The article highlights typical models of the water sector organization with advantages and shortcomings. Dogmatic favouring or ranking of certain models, already at the abstract level, shall be rejected. Authors opt for case-by-case ranking of such organizational models. Dogmatic favouring of private participation and market competition is disputable and a credible discussion shall not be limited only to their advantages but also to their costs and risks.
References
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Cave, M. (2009) Independent Review of Competition and Innovation in Water Markets, Final Report (London: Defra).
Craig, P. & Gráinne, D. B. (2011) EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, 5th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
European Commission (2014) Communication from the Commission on the European Citizen's Initiative 'Water and Sanitation are a Human Right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!' (Brussels: European Commission).
European Commission (2014) The EU Water Framework Directive (Brussels: European Commission).
Ferčič, A. & Samec, N. (2014) European Union state aid law and policy, and local public services, Lex localis - Journal of Local Self-Government, 12(2), pp. 267-287, doi: 10.4335/12.2.267-287(2014).
Ferčič, A. (2009) Ekonomska teorija in ex ante regulacija, LeXonomica, 1(1), pp. 33-50.
Finger, M. & Künneke, R. W. (2011) International Handbook of Network Industries: The Liberalization of Infrastructure (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited).
Garcia, S., Moreaux, M. & Reynaud, A. (2007) Measuring economies of vertical integration in network industries: An application to the water sector, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 25(4), pp. 791-820, doi: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2006.07.009.
Gee, A. (2004) Competition and the water sector, Competition Policy Newsletter, 10(2), pp. 38-40.
Gordon-Walker, S. & Marr, S. (2002) Study on the application of the competition rules to the water sector in the European Community, Final Report (Wiltshire: WRc & Ecologic).
Guasch, J. L. & Straub, S. (2006) Renegotiation of infrastructure concessions: an overview, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 77(4), pp. 479–493, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8292.2006.00316.x.
Höffler, F. & Kranz, S. (2007) Imperfect Legal Unbundling of Monopolistic Bottlenecks, Bonn Econ Discussion Papers, No 16/2007, pp. 1-13.
Juen, G. (2005) Trading Rights: A Human Rights Perspective to Water Service Liberalization in the Framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Brussels Journal of International Studies, 2(1), pp. 51-69.
Kiefer, T., Winkler, I., Cacciaguidi-Fahy, S., Pestova, P., Khalfan, A., Fairstein, C. (2008) Legal Resources for the Right to Water and Sanitation: International and National Standards, 2nd edition (Geneva: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions).
Kraemer, A. R. (2003a) Water Liberalisation Scenarios: Analysis of the European Union’s Explicit and Implicit Policies and Approaches in the Larger Water Sector (Berlin: Ecologic institute), available at: http://www.ecologic.de/download/projekte/1950-1999/1977/1977_d1_final.pdf (February 9, 2015).
Kraemer, A. R. (2003b) Water Liberalisation Scenarios: Identification and description of plausible water liberalisation scenarios (Berlin: Ecologic institute), available at: http://www.ecologic.de/download/projekte/1950-1999/1977/1977_d5_final_report.pdf (February 9, 2015).
Lenaerts, K. & Van Nuffel, P. (2011) European Union Law, 3rd edition (London: Sweet & Maxwell, Thomson Reuters).
Lijin, Z., Arthur, P. J. & Mol, T. F. (2008) Public-Private Partnerships in China’s Urban Water Sector, Environmental Management, 41(6), pp. 863–877, doi: 10.1007/s00267-008-9070-1.
Lynk E. L. (1993) Privatisation, joint production and the comparative efficiencies of private public partnership: The UK Water Industry Case, Fiscal Studies, 14(2), pp. 98-116, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-5890.1993.tb00482.x.
Lobina E. (2005) Problems with Private Water Concessions: A Review of Experiences and Analysis of Dynamics, Water Resources Development, 21(1), pp. 55-87, doi: 10.1080/0790062042000313304.
Luís-Manso, P. & Finger, M. & Allouche, J. (2005) The evolution of the water sector in Europe: an institutional analysis of possible scenarios, MIR-REPORT-2005-003 (Lausane: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).
Molyneux-Hodgson, S. & Balmer, A. S. (2014) Synthetic Biology, water industry and the performance of an innovation barrier, Science and Public Policy, 41(4), pp. 507-519, doi: 10.1093/scipol/sct074.
Opschorr, J. B. H. (2006) Water and merit goods; In response to the paper by Marco Schouten and Klaas Schwartz, ‘‘Water as a political good: implications for investment’’, International Environmental Agreements, 6(4), pp. 423-428, doi: 10.1007/s10784-006-9013-3.
Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (1987) Pricing of water services (Paris: OECD).
Prasad N. (2006) Privatisation Results: Private Sector Participation in Water Services After 15 Years, Development Policy Review, 24(6), pp. 669-692, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7679.2006.00353.x.
Rizman, R. (2015) Kako zavarovati skupno dobro, Delo, (7.1.2015), p. 5.
Shleifer, A. (1985) A theory of yardstick competition, Rand Journal of Economics, 16(3), pp. 319-327, doi: 10.2307/2555560.
Stern, J. (2009) Introducing Competition into England and Wales water industry: Lessons from UK and EU energy market liberalisation, Discussion Paper Series: CCRP Working Paper No: 13 (London: City University, Department of Economics).
UN Economic and Social Council, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2003) Report on the Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Ninth Sessions (New York: United Nations).
Wackerbauer, J. (2008) Public or Private Water Management: Experience from different European Countries, XXIVth Conference of the Danubian Countries, IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 4(2008), pp. 1-9, doi: 10.1088/1755-1307/4/1/012037.</span></p>
Published
2015-07-31
Issue
Section
Conference Paper (Annual Conference 2020)
