Towards a European Legal Order for Services of General Economic Interest

The growing Europeanisation of the public utilities legal order is becoming manifest in the way in which the new regulations and directives harmonise the liberalised markets, define scopes and techniques for safeguarding universal service and shape the nature, powers and procedures of the national regulatory authorities. Community law is no longer limited to requiring changes in particular aspects of national laws: instead, it lays the foundation for a genuine European order for services of general economic interest, extending from the markets' legal framework to the concrete functioning of the regulatory mechanisms. The process is nevertheless incomplete. Member States still protect government powers and national enterprises. Furthermore, relations between the Community legal order and the liberalisation process occurring at a global level can become rather strained.