ABSTRACT
This chapter presents different approaches to the network industries: the US approach with its consequence of regulating utilities as toll goods and the European Union approach consisting of unbundling competitive services from a regulated natural monopoly. The original context of the French model is worthwhile to remember: France is a country of 37,000 municipalities, most of them too small to be able to provide public services, notably water and local transport. Public-private partnership (PPP) are quite controversial. But controversy varies depending on the sectors: as a matter of rule, the more public service obligations are involved, the more controversial the PPP. Despite the criticisms, there are several very strong contextual forces that make PPPs more or less unavoidable in the medium and long term. There are as many PPPs as there are contracts; each contract is different, designed to the specific situation.
