7 reasons, why services of general interest should be run by the public

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Services of general interest are directed to the benefit of the common good. This means that essential services should be available to all people at affordable prices. Private companies on the other hand, have the aim of making the biggest profit possible. Therefore, a service, that is not profitable, is of no interest to private operators.

1. COMMON GOOD INSTEAD OF PROFITS

2. DISAPPOINTING PRIVATIZATIONS

Services were promised to become "better and cheaper" if they were to be operated by private businesses. This promise was unfortunately neglected most of the times, resulting in services being of a poorer quality due to a lack of investments and higher prices.

3. CLIMATE PROTECTION

Climate protection goals can be implemented both directly and easily by public transport companies and energy companies. Many of the municipal utilities, founded in recent years, rely on 100% green electricity. Private operators, on the other hand, still rely on the usage of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas, nuclear power) in most cases, because those energy sources may still be more cost efficient in the short run.

4. BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS

In many cases, privatizations have resulted in job losses, overburdering of employees and lower pay for employees. With public employers on the other hand, fair salaries are the standard.

5. PROFITS REMAIN IN THE LOCAL ECONOMIC CYCLE

In contrast to private companies, any profit made by a publicly owned company flows back to the population in the form of investments, thus maintaining or improving the quality of the provided services.

6. MORE ROOM FOR MANEUVER

Municipally owned companies offer a range of opportunities to influence the quality and prices of services of general interest - through politics, which itself is shaped by the population.

7. POPULATION PREFERS PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

In several European countries, citizens' initiatives have already been formed in recent years to act against the privatization of publicly owned service operators or to demand a remunicipalization of privatized businesses. This indicates that the population prefers services of general interest to be operated by the public.

Study Remunicipalization in Europe (2019)

Factsheets 7 Reasons, why Services of General Interest should be in public hands (ÖGPP)