The privatization in the water sector
Zastanceanu, Irina (2020)
Zastanceanu, Irina
2020
Master's Programme in Public Economics and Public Finance
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-12-03
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011268229
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011268229
Tiivistelmä
The work aims to analyze the evolution of the discipline of the national water service, with particular regard to the legislation that relates to the profiles of service assignment and organization from the original model of municipalization defined at the beginning of the twentieth century. It will be seen that the service born as a municipal service, for reasons of increasing efficiency, has over time ended up being the subject of an increasingly aimed discipline to encourage its private nature, through the imposition of the integration of the various operating phases and the involvement of subjects other than traditional ones and belonging to the public sphere. The term privatization refers to all those economic processes that are aimed at the transfer of ownership of an entity or company, from the sphere of public control to the private one. The motivations that pushed towards the privatization of water have been very similar from one reality to another: the need to improve the quality of the service, the will to generate new revenue or to reduce expenses for the state, the desire to mobilize private financing without having to increase taxes or public debt.
We will then see how the involvement of the sector in attempts to open up the public services market eventually led to a referendum. To continue the analysis, we will consider the experiences of water service management in the world and in particular in the United Kingdom, in search of a possible model that can be implemented in our country, taking into account the referendum constraints in the background. It will not be possible to fail to point out that, since in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union there are no specific indications on the organization and management of water resources, as well as sectoral directives on the matter, the debate on the need for effective protection of the water heritage does not share indications on its management methods followed. In this way, a very fragmented and uninformed picture was born that unites the different experiences. Just taking a cue from the study of the consequences of the privatization of water in Italy and in the world, public opinion and many representatives of the political parties of the opposition immediately expressed their adverse orientation, declaring themselves openly opposed to the advent of privatization in the water sector.
Particularly debated were the arguments concerning the effective distinction between public property and private management of water resources, the capacity and willingness of private individuals to support the investments necessary for the maintenance of infrastructures and above all the fear of witnessing exponential growth of tariffs against citizens. Finally, an overview of the situation currently present in the Italian territory, with a more detailed analysis conducted on Hera, the second operator at the national level, will allow for an assessment of the role of private individuals in the water sector.
We will then see how the involvement of the sector in attempts to open up the public services market eventually led to a referendum. To continue the analysis, we will consider the experiences of water service management in the world and in particular in the United Kingdom, in search of a possible model that can be implemented in our country, taking into account the referendum constraints in the background. It will not be possible to fail to point out that, since in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union there are no specific indications on the organization and management of water resources, as well as sectoral directives on the matter, the debate on the need for effective protection of the water heritage does not share indications on its management methods followed. In this way, a very fragmented and uninformed picture was born that unites the different experiences. Just taking a cue from the study of the consequences of the privatization of water in Italy and in the world, public opinion and many representatives of the political parties of the opposition immediately expressed their adverse orientation, declaring themselves openly opposed to the advent of privatization in the water sector.
Particularly debated were the arguments concerning the effective distinction between public property and private management of water resources, the capacity and willingness of private individuals to support the investments necessary for the maintenance of infrastructures and above all the fear of witnessing exponential growth of tariffs against citizens. Finally, an overview of the situation currently present in the Italian territory, with a more detailed analysis conducted on Hera, the second operator at the national level, will allow for an assessment of the role of private individuals in the water sector.