This is the third book in the series Legal Issues of Services of General Interest. The book focuses upon a set of research questions on the recent developments in the emergence of services of general interest (SGIs) as a distinct EU concept. This includes, inter alia, the emergence of universal service obligations and the way they are regulated in the EU in primary and secondary law, the range of soft law communications adopted by the Commission to create a distinctive EU concept of SGIs, the residual role of hard law in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the special problems created by Social Services of General Economic Interest and the interaction of procurement and state aid law with SGIs. A new perspective is offered in this book: some of the issues faced by the EU in accommodating SGIs into a regulatory framework are found also in the policy of the WTO and in least developed countries (LDCs).

Introduction: Why do public services challenge the European Union?

Part I: Background Issues

From Rome to Lisbon: SGIs in primary law

The Commission's soft law in the area of Services of General Economic Interest

Article 106 TFEU is dead - Long live Article 106 TFEU!

The definition of a 'contract' under Article 106 TFEU

Part II: New Legal Issues

Social Services of General Interest and EU Law

Universal Service Obligations: Fulfilling New Generations Of Services of General Economic Interest

Public Service Obligations - protection of public service values in a national and European context

Part III: Global Issues

Public Private Partnerships and Government Services in Least  Developed Countries: Regulatory Paradoxes

Universal Service Provisions in International Agreements of the EU: From Derogation to Obligation?

Conclusion