Service of General Economic Interest in Transport

Service of general economic interest (SGEI) in the transport sector has been developed under the notion of public service obligation (PSO) within the framework of Common Transport Policy. This chapter explores the treatment of SGEIs in the transport sector. It begins with PSO in air transport, where the pursuit of regional economic development has been recognised as a valid SGEI objective and the public tendering procedure must be used. The second part of this chapter discusses PSO in inland transport, where Member States still enjoy much freedom and have been granted derogation from the public tendering procedure. It further studies PSO in the maritime transport sector, where transport links to islands have been regarded as valid SGEIs by the EU. The analysis shows that the concern of the EU is to ensure state intervention is competition neutral.