The European PPP Expertise Centre (EPEC) is part of the Advisory Services of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

(EIB). It is an initiative that also involves the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, member states of the EU, candidate states and certain other states. EPEC helps strengthen the capacity of its

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...

members to enter into

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...

(PPP) transactions.

Key areas of activity

EPEC carries out three main types of activity: Sharing good PPP practice through network activities: * Providing

market intelligence Market intelligence (MI) is gathering and analyzing information relevant to a company's market - trends, competitor and customer (existing, lost and targeted) monitoring. It is a subtype of competitive intelligence (CI), which is data and infor ...

* Addressing practical issues in implementing PPPs * Developing PPP guidance and tools Assisting PPP policy development: * PPP legal and regulatory frameworks * PPP institutional arrangements * Processes for preparation, approving and managing PPPs Supporting upstream PPP project preparation: * Early-stage involvement * Support tailored to individual projects * High-level strategic advice (‘advising not doing’, ‘working with not for’)

Members

Membership in EPEC is strictly limited to public authorities whose role includes policy responsibility and the promotion of PPP projects or programmes at national or regional level. To date, EPEC has 41 Members, including the EIB and the European Commission. All other Members are national or regional authorities that are responsible for PPP policy or programmes in their jurisdictions. Membership is restricted to public authorities in European Union member states, Candidate Countries and certain other countries in Europe

Statements on PPP risks

In spite of its overall goal, EPEC also states that "an excessive focus on off government balance sheet recording can be at the expense of sound project preparation and value for money and may push public authorities to use PPPs where not appropriate". In addition, it admits that PPPs can create an "affordability illusion" which "tends to be exacerbated when a project is found to be off

balance sheet In financial accounting, a balance sheet (also known as statement of financial position or statement of financial condition) is a summary of the financial balances of an individual or organization, whether it be a sole proprietorship, a business ...

. The fiscal liabilities that arise from PPPs can have a detrimental effect on the relevant country’s

fiscal sustainability Fiscal sustainability, or public finance sustainability, is the ability of a government to sustain its current spending, tax and other policies in the long run without threatening government solvency or defaulting on some of its liabilities or promi ...

and so they should be managed properly".

References

External links

* {{Public-private Partnership Public–private partnership Economy of the European Union European investment banks Public–private partnership units