lbone Bengoetxea:
The four basic
ideas that should underpin
the provision of
public-private services:
connectivity, social
cohesion, innovative
management, and citizen’s
participation
lñigo de la Serna:
The new law on the reform
of the local administration
empowers the FEMP with
the ability to act
as a central services
procurement board for
municipalities
Félix Parra:
The debate
should focus on the cost
and the quality of
the service rather than
whether or not the service
is provided by a public or
a private operator
transparency and control that must always go
hand-in-hand with the use of public funds”.
He added that “the new law does not penali-
se indirect management but clearly maintains
the possibility that enables local entities to
take advantage of public-private collaboration
for providing services thanks to indirect, lega-
lly regulated management formulas contem-
plated in the law on public sector contracts”.
The necessary conditions
In his presentation, Iñigo de la Serna, men-
tioned that “up to now, private was usually
associated with the obscure whereas public
was white and transparent, when, in fact, this
is not actually the case” and he wagered on
“not penalising the private sector”, indicating
clearly the need to resort to public-private co-
llaboration as a necessary in order to ensure
that citizens continue to have good services.
He cited as an example, FCC Aqualia’s end-
to-end water management activities in San-
tander.
The chairman of FEMP also highlighted
the opportunities envisaged in the new law
“which empowers the Federation to act as a
central services procurement board for muni-
cipalities. Hence, we will be able to enter into
agreements with the private sector and the
city councils that might have an interest, may
take advantage of this opportunity, regard-
less of their size and with full legal guarantees
which will enable medium and small cities
and towns to have and to provide certain ser-
vices which they are not currently providing”.
He concluded his presentation insisting on
“the need to continue working on defining
public-private collaboration models, with full
legal guarantees to provide quality citizen ser-
vices in an efficient manner”.
Ibone Bengoetxea, the deputy-mayor of Bil-
bao spoke in similar terms. She mentioned
four basic ideas that should underpin the pro-
vision of public-private services: “connectivi-
ty, social cohesion, innovative management,
and citizen’s participation”. The deputy-
mayor described the transformation of her
city “which was socially and industrially de-
pressed in the 80s.” She said that “the most
u s i n e s s
