Court Win for Inter-Municipal Cooperation

A European Court of Justice ruling has found in favour of inter-municipal cooperation when delivering public services without the need to put out calls for tender.

The court stated if no private partner was involved in the delivering of public services, local authorities should be able to use their own resources where possible to ensure public tasks are carried out, or may do so in cooperation with other public authorities.

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions welcomed the ruling as a significant result for local authorities.

CEMR’s Director of Policy Angelika Poth-Mögele said: “The court’s decision is in line with what we have been advocating for years and what we have laid down in our recent European Charter on local and regional services of general interest.

“Inter-municipal cooperation is a way to organise services efficiently and is also in the interest of citizens and business. At last, the Court of Justice has confirmed the right for local authorities to decide how best to organise the tasks for which they are responsible.”

The case arose after the European Commission argued that four German district authorities who concluded a contract with the cleansing department of the city of Hamburg should have put the contract out to tender.

Last Updated: 2009. 07. 03. 12:32:18 By Katherine Hitchcock