El régimen de contratación pública en los sectores especiales del agua, la energía, los transportes y los servicios postales.

Abstract

Public procurement has attained outstanding dimensions. All the public authorities of the EU Member States are subject to strict and homogeneous regulations on their contract awarding, not only to protect the general interest —especially, the economic efficiency of the public expenditure—, but also to foster the European integration process. The regulation of the public contracts and, therefore, the regulation of the collaboration between the public and the private sectors in the execution of works, services, supplies and projects aim at restraining the use of public financial resources and meeting the objectives of cohesion and unity of the European market. The principles and rules of harmonisation of the contractual rules in the legal systems of the EU Member States have transcended the boundaries of the public authorities, and apply to private entities operating in the so called «special sectors» (water, energy, transports and postal services). The EU Law has set out some unavoidable contractual standards to achieve a more effective and efficient management of the public expenditure and, furthermore, to attain a maximum degree of competitiveness throughout the EU, without prejudice of the equality and non discrimination of the European economic operators. Nevertheless, some economic thresholds and certain characteristics of the contracts still catalyse the application of such EU standards.