LA FORMA DE VIDA DETRÁS DEL JUEGO DEL LENGUAJE DEL

The current economic crisis may be faced by passing to a correlative development of both material infrastructure and human capital. The development of material infrastructures (transportation, environment, telecommunications, and energy) offers a long range of advantages, but also medium range economic advantages such as the major investments that lead to economic grown and urge the development of adjacent economic activities. On the other side, the investment in human capital (by education, training, continuous learning, strengthening the research – development – innovation relationship, effective policies of public health, social and occupational modern policies, and so on) ensures the sustainability of the economic growth, taking into account the fact that a healthy well-educated population is flourishing and adjustable to the European Union’s level and the global level as well (Isărescu, 2009b; Romanian Government, 2006).

Taking into account the current economic crisis and the evolutions in the sector of services, some public services may be developed through public-private partnerships. In the past decade we have witnessed all over the world an increase in the public sector’s interest for signing public-private agreements, a new way of managing and governing organizations that deliver public services. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) popularity is due to the fact that governments are more and more eager to increase the quality and efficiency of public services, but in the same time they face insufficient budgetary resources to cover investment needs, coupled with public spending restrictions (European Commission, 2003). PPPs are usually seen as the most innovative interface between the public and the private sectors, being an essential legal instrument for the delivery of public services. Therefore, the phenomenon of public-private partnerships has generalised and comprises today many areas covering infrastructure projects, transport, public health, education, public safety, waste management and water distribution.

The growing popularity of public-private partnerships projects is due to the advantages it may bring, such as: rapid infrastructure delivery; cost reduction for the public sector; efficiencies gained in task allocation of large and complex operations; stability gained through commitment to long-term projects; accountability established through involvement of a wider range of stakeholders; use of private management, experience and know-how for service delivery, that could imply service restructuring in order to make it competitive; risk sharing and improved risk allocation; improvement of service quality (Hodge and Greve, 2007).

When talking about public-private partnerships in relation with the current economic crisis, two main types of attitudes emerge. On one side we have “the optimists” and on the other side we have “the pessimists”. Optimists see PPP projects as instruments for fighting the economic crisis and for economic recovery. Pessimists instead see the current economic crisis as an important obstacle in the PPPs’ evolution in Romania.

PPPs may be important instruments for fighting the economic crisis and for economic recovery, and this is, as already mentioned, the optimists’ approach. The arguments that support this approach are related to the advantages of PPPs: (1) PPPs may help redefining the State’s direct role in the economy; (2) PPPs have positive impact on public finance; (3) PPPs

may contribute to job creation; (4) there is a special fiscal treatment for PPPs (the “off balance sheet” treatment); and (5) PPPs may lead to a better absorption of EU funds.

Public-private partnerships can have a significant impact on public finance by: (a) generating new sources of income, new infrastructures and new services; (b) allowing new development for existing sources of revenue (public transportation, sanitation); (c) promoting industrial development and as a consequence, increasing fiscal income; and (d) better directing public budgets (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2000).

There are a lot of competing demands on the public purse which makes it difficult for governments to choose which project to finance or not. PPPs make this choice easier and help governments finance more projects than they would usually do by using traditional methods. Public-private partnerships also contribute to reducing taxation, which is one of the primary measures governments should adopt during critical periods. Thus, the redirected resources stimulate demand and contribute to the country’s wealth.

Moreover, public-private partnerships are source of jobs on the medium and long-term and the key of the anti-crisis programs. For example, the 900 billion dollars plan for reviving the American economy adopted in 2009 is aimed at saving 2,5 million jobs in the next two years through public-private partnership infrastructure projects: roads , bridges, schools, ecological technologies, etc. (Vass, 2009).

On the other side, however, the current economic crisis affects projects which are aimed at making the public and the private sectors work together. Thus, the crisis determines a decrease of the number of private competitors and the number of financial institutions willing to get involved and finance such projects. This means lower competition and in the end higher total costs.

Public administration’s choice for signing public-private partnership contracts with private companies is not taken into consideration just because the public sector lacks of financial resources. Every public-private partnership project has an impact on the citizens (end-users) through the tax system. Therefore the private partner is expected to provide growing efficiency, technical innovation and better quality.

The significant role of the private partner is the main feature of public-private partnerships. The private partner is involved in the various phases of the project (planning, implementation and operation), is intended to accept risks that are traditionally borne by the public sector and often contributes to financing the project. When deciding whether to enter into a public-private arrangement, public agencies usually focus on two main aspects: price and quality. The public sector will sign the public-private partnership contract if the private partner can deliver the same service at a lower price, or if he can deliver a more qualitative service at the current price or at a lower price.

Public-private partnerships are not anymore a brand new concept in Romania. Several progresses have been made recently. Thus, a Central Unit for Public-Private Partnership was set up within the Ministry of Public Finance in 2005, and in 2006 and 2007 a new enabling legislation was introduced. However, there is a slow PPP deal activity to date if we look at the number of implemented projects. The reasons for the slow pace of activity include: the complexity of the PPP process in terms of preparation and awarding, not very strong, clear and long term political support, a very restrictive legislative framework (the Romanian legislation limits PPPs to service concessions and works concessions), little public sector expertise in

relation to PPPs, etc. However, public-private partnerships may be taken into consideration as a solution to the current economic crisis, because they can stimulate the sector of services.

7. Conclusions

This study has revealed that the Romanian sector of services is very much affected by the current economic crisis. This conclusion is based on the following premises: (1) the tariffs for services have increased during the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period of time in 2008; (2) the number of employeesfrom the sector of services has decreased by 54.5% in August 2009 as against August 2008; (3) the market services rendered to the population registered a fall of 15.7% during the first eight months of 2009 as against the same period of the previous year; and (4) the services mainly rendered to the enterprises registered a lower turnover, in nominal terms, during the first eight months of 2009 than in the same period of the previous year.

Another conclusion of this study is that public-private partnerships may be a solution for reviving the sector of services because they are important instruments for fighting the economic crisis and for economic recovery.

References

1. European Commission (2003), Directorate- General for Regional Policy, Guidelines for Successful Public-Private Partnerships, Brussels.

2. Hodge, G. A., Greve, C. (2007), Public-Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administration Review, 67(3).

3. Institutul Naţional de Statistică – INS (2009), Buletin statistic lunar, No. 8, 2009, last accessed October 20, 2009, <http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/arhiva_buletine2009/bsl_8.pdf>.

4. Isărescu, M., (2009a), Criza financiară internaţională şi provocări pentru politica monetară din România (I), in TopBusiness online, No 755, March 2009, last accessed October 20, 2009, <http://www.topbusiness.ro/romania/news/article/Criza+financiara+internationala+si+provocari+pent ru+politica+monetara+din+Romania+(I).html>.

5. Isărescu, M., (2009b), Criza financiară internaţională şi provocări pentru politica monetară din România (II), in TopBusiness online, No 756, March 2009, last accessed October 20, <http://www.topbusiness.ro/romania/archive/article/Criza+financiara+internationala++%BAi+provoc ari++pentru+politica+monetara+din+Rom%E2nia+%28II%29.html>.

6. Romanian Government (2006), Post-adhering Strategy 2007-2013, Bucharest, December 2006, last accessed October 20, 2009, <http://www.guv.ro/obiective/200701/strategie_post_aderare.pdf>.

7. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2000), Guidelines on private public partnerships for infrastructure development.

8. Vass, I. (2009), Parteneriatele public-private, cheia programelor anticriză, last accessed October 20, 2009, <http://www.juridice.ro/note-studii-opinii/38688.html>.