ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION COMMENTS

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESIONCOMMENTS

• Tamás Fleischer
• Institute for World Economicsof the Hungarian
  Academy of Sciences
• lthttp//www.vki.hu/tfleischgt
• lttfleisch_at_vki.hugt

SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST IN AN ENLARGED
EUROPEAN UNION Budapest, 22 October 2004
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Comments
• Questions for discussion
• Third, where should the line be drawn in defining
  SGEI? Services such as telecommunications have
  become almost exclusively market-based, whereas
  postal services in most countries remain under
  the SGEI umbrella

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• In the good old days of the centrally planned
  economy
• there were productive infrastructure and
  improductive infrastructure distinguished.
• Productive ones were transport and
  telecommunications, energy, and water
  managementwhile health, education, housing,
  administrative and personal services were
  considered as improductive ones.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Now we are in the good new days of European
  integration
• and open the Annex of the White Paper on SGI at
  Definition of Terms.
• The term services of general interest cannot
  be found in the Treaty itself. It is derived in
  Community practice from the term services of
  general economic interest which is used in the
  Treaty. SGI is broader than SGEI and covers
  both market and non-market services

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• The term services of general economic interest
  is used in Article 16 and 86(2) of the Treaty. It
  is not defined in the Treaty or in secondary
  legislation. However, in Community practice there
  is a broad agreement that the term refers to
  services of an economic nature which the Member
  States or the Community subject to specific
  public obligations by virtue of the general
  interest criterion. The concept of services of
  general economic interest thus covers in
  particular certain services provided by the big
  network industries such as transport, postal
  services, energy and communications. However the
  term also extends to any other economic activity
  subject to public service obligations.
  (Stressed by me T. F.)

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Services of an economic nature
• Economic services
• transport, postal services, energy,
  communications
• Social services
• education, health, housing
• Ecological services ?
• waste management, water issues
• Territorial services ?

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• But in this case we should speak about
• Economic Services of General Interest (ESGI)
• rather than Services of General Economic Interest
• and also about Social Services of General
  Interest
• and Environmental Services of General Interest
• and Territorial Services of General Interest
• but still we need the definition of the
  General Interest and General Economic
  Interest

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• Services of General Interest (SGI)
• The term general means here relating to the
  whole Community while general interest means
  the interest of the EU as a whole. (common
  interest or Community interest)
• Consequently the term services of general
  interest relates to those services, where beside
  the provider and the consumer there is also a
  third interested party, namely, the Community as
  a whole on the output side.
• This SGI are not identical to sectors
  (transport or postal services) on the input
  side, but rather different activities from
  different sectors that dispose with enough
  positive external contribution towards the aims
  of the Community to make worthy influencing the
  market for them.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI)
• The term services of general economic interest
  relates to those sub-groups of the services of
  general interest, where the external benefit
  that is the interest of the Community on the
  output side is an economic one.
• For example such case is if the existence of a
  given service offers a contribution to the
  economic competitiveness of the Community. The
  service itself can be an economic one or a
  social one it is not important in the context
  of assuring a general economic interest,
  because it is the output side that form the
  interest to be economic.
• It would be useful to fix which are those
  economic objectives of the Community that need
  such kind of support.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Services of General Social Interest (SGSI)
• Services of General Spatial Interest (SGTI)
• Services of General Environmental Interest (SG?I)
• Following the case of the economic interest, it
  is not a problem any more to define similarly the
  social, territorial or environmental interest
  too. If the output of a given service activity
  offers an external contribution to the respective
  objectives of the Community, then a kind of
  assessment can be elaborated for assuming if the
  amount of the contribution is eligible for a
  special support or not.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Separating the economic, social, environmental,
  spatial interests can be useful when we want to
  solve the problem of metering the external
  benefits of different activities.
• In the same time there are service activities,
  that parallely offer positive effect for two or
  more types of objectives f. e. economical and
  social benefits in the same time. So it is clear,
  that the disintegration of the objectives can
  help us to understand the place of the different
  interests on the output side, but at the end it
  will certainly be necessary to integrate again
  the impacts and turn back to the concept of the
  services of general interest that can unify the
  economic, the social, the territorial and the
  environmental interest including the mixed ones.
• time ? three more minutes ?

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESIONCOMMENTS
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !

• Tamás Fleischer
• Institute for World Economicsof the Hungarian
  Academy of Sciences
• lthttp//www.vki.hu/tfleischgt
• lttfleisch_at_vki.hugt

SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST IN AN ENLARGED
EUROPEAN UNION Budapest, 22 October 2004
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• European Interest 1 the extension of the TEN
  network toward the East
• White Paper 3.3 the Commissions policy in the
  area of trans-European networks is improving
  access to transport, energy and communications
  networks in the more remote area and will assist
  in linking the new Member States with the
  infrastructure of the Fifteen
• What does this linking mean?

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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Source Az országos közúthálózat 1991-2000 évekre
szóló-fejlesztési programja 1991, KHVM. Road
numbering since 1975 the first signal of
corridors
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• Eastern extension of the grid of the TEN

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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Source http//www.khvm.hu/EU-integracio/A_magyaro
rszagi_TINA_halozat/Image11.gif The Helsinki-, or
pan-European road transport corridors
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• European Interest 1 the extension of the TEN
  network toward the East
• The extension of the TEN was rather the extension
  of the east-west corridors of the TEN than the
  extension of the grid itself. It reflected the
  Fifteens interest rather than the general
  interest of the enlarged European Union.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• European Interest 2 the adaptation of the CTP
  priorities
• White Paper 3.1 the Commission intends,
  whenever required, to make proposals for
  sector-specific regulation only in areas that,
  like the large network industries, have a clear
  Europe-wide dimension and present a strong case
  for defining a European concept of general
  interest.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• European Interest 2 the adaptation of the CTP
  priorities
• When the transition countries followed the
  objectives of the CTP and gave similar priority
  and importance to the construction of the
  inter-regional corridors, as it was seen in the
  Common Transport Policy, they overestimated the
  significance of this supranational level in
  territorial cohesion relative to the importance
  of the domestic main and local level networks.
  The development of the main corridors is
  necessary, but the proportionally good
  performance of the internal (national, local)
  level is similarly important. Without good local
  networks the expected advantages can not
  penetrate into the local economy - to achieve
  cohesion.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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• European Interest 3 the structure/pattern of
  the inter-regional networks within the country
• As a further problem, the otherwise
  over-prioritised inter-regional corridors are
  constructed in a mistaken over-centralised
  structure that also slow down the rise of the
  adaptive capacity of the Hungarian economy.

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Distinguishing centripetal and centrifugal
network patterns Source Rodrigue, J-P
(1998-2003), Dept. of Economics Geography,
Hofstra University
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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The road interpretation of the planned
pan-European corridors in Hungary - follow the
earlier over-centralised pattern
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An alternative possibility to cross the country
with the corridors in a new structure The model
also shows the possibility of avoiding the most
sensible areas of the country
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
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Forrás Fleischer Tamás Magyar Emoke Tombácz
Endre Zsikla György (2001) A Széchenyi Terv
autópálya-fejlesztési programjának stratégiai
környezeti hatásvizsgálata. 109 p. A Budapesti
Közgazdaságtudományi és Államigazgatási Egyetem
Környezettudományi Intézetének tanulmányai, 6.
szám. Sorozatszerkeszto Kerekes Sándor és Kiss
Károly. Budapest, 2001 december
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(No Transcript)
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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESION

• European Interest 1 the extension of the TEN
  network toward the East was rather the extension
  of the east-west corridors of the TEN than the
  extension of the grid itself. It reflected the
  Fifteens interest rather than the general
  interest of the enlarged European Union.
• European Interest 2 during the adaptation of
  the EU (CTP) priorities the transition countries
  overestimated the significance of the TEN
  (supranational) level in territorial cohesion.
  Without good local networks the expected
  advantages can not penetrate into the local
  economy, to achieve cohesion so good local
  network is a general interest.
• European Interest 3 the structure/pattern of
  the inter-regional networks within Hungary follow
  an over-centralised structure that is also a
  barrier in the development of the adaptive
  capacity of the country.

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ACCESS TO SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST AND
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL COHESIONCOMMENTS
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !

• Tamás Fleischer
• Institute for World Economicsof the Hungarian
  Academy of Sciences
• lthttp//www.vki.hu/tfleischgt
• lttfleisch_at_vki.hugt

SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST IN AN ENLARGED
EUROPEAN UNION Budapest, 22 October 2004