Congress report - European Health Forum Gastein

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European Health Forum Gastein 2001
Parliament in 1990 advocated, in its summing up of the sector's problems, radical reforms
which included, amongst others, the granting of greater autonomy to the health centres in
order to transform them into public companies.
To put in Spanish jurisprudent, Muñoz Machado's, own words "...the trend for abandoning
Public Law guarantees and the infiltration of Private Law in every aspect of the public
services goes against the reality our times. Whilst we abandon some of those sorts of
guarantees the European Union, to which we belong as full members, is imposing the
necessary maintenance of a series of guarantees, that of course belong to Public Law, for the
functioning of certain establishments or in order to configure certain activities" (Muñoz
Machado: 1995).
Definitively, this is what is happening in spite of concepts or differentiated organisational
models in topics such as public procurement in which the working tools have to suit the
forecasts of Communitarian Law independently of the role of such rules as determining
factors in a management model. As we have said, independently of the management model
adopted, public procurement is fully submitted to Communitarian Law and the sometimes
difficult position health managers find themselves in, who have to combine effectiveness,
efficiency and legality in their task.
The previous legal analysis allows us to come to the conclusion that the impact of European
regulations in the purchase of goods and services is important because it has changed some
patterns in administrative management bringing about some legislative modifications in the
Spanish legal framework. These changes will be greater in the future. Planning for the
purchase of goods and services has become an essential tool permitting a greater
rationalisation of procurement. On the other hand such change, which has not been
welcomed by an important portion of the management staff, has contributed somehow to the
debate on new forms of organisation of the health services.
4. Conclusions and recommendations
The transposition of the European regulations to the Spanish legal framework on public
procurement started in 1986 after the accession of the Kingdom of Spain to the European
Economic Community. Since then, the extent of the influence of these transpositions has
been gradual, although from a substantial perspective we can assert that communitarian law
has been properly incorporated within the Spanish internal rules. However, such
incorporation has suffered delays in certain cases and formally has meant the noncompliance
of the Spanish State obligations as stated by the communitarian Treaties. Such
was the case of the directives on supplies contracts in the utilities sector, as well as those
that modify and adapt the directives on services, supplies and works, both adapted beyond
the limit of the dateline.
The communitarian directives have put forward a new concept in public procurement. Due to
the diversity of legal frameworks in Member States, the administrative organisation or the
denomination of contracts is not an issue for the European regulations. On the contrary,
what is actually important is an effective opening of the public sector's market. Thus, any
contract, fully or partly financed with public funds, is considered as a public contract and
the contracting entities from the Public administration, or not, will be appointed as the
awarding body.
From this perspective, the impact of communitarian law in the purchase of goods and
services in health care services has been as important as in the rest of the public sector. This
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