Réflexions naïves sur l'avenir du service public

in Juger l’administration, administrer la justice, Mélanges en l’honneur de Daniel Labetoulle, Dalloz, 2007, pp. 519-535.

The article notes that it now challenges the idea of "service public à la française", that is to say the award by public benefits to meet the public interest by correcting social inequality, which is the justification for the existence of public enterprises and the State itself.
This is the fact of liberalism and the rule of law of the market.

However, the article shows that public services have certainly been challenged in their intimacy with public enterprises, including European jurisprudence "Corbeau" and "Commune d’Almelo," but EU law also takes into account the services of public general economic interest, which also play a role in social cohesion.

In France, the structuring element of public service is, however, the public entity which exercises and Duguit saw in the public service the justification of the existence of public bodies. But in 1920, this organic conception has been challenged in jurisprudence and French administrative law (see conclusions of Matter). Thus, the requirements of European law on public services French are not so revolutionary or frightening than that. Moreover, even when there is privatization, a link to a public entity is always conserved. In addition, the controls exercised by regulatory authorities, which are public authorities, limit any excess. Finally, the affirmation that the development would lead to a degradation of service is questionable because the quality of service was not previously acquired, sometimes certain facility closures are necessary and a concern for public budgetary discipline must prevail.