Ref. Ares(2021)4428107 - 07/07/2021
Brussels, 13 October 2020
CONTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND SGIs
TO THE EU RECOVERY
How strategically designed investment in SGIs can support the EU recovery
CEEP believes that the promotion of strategical y designed investment is the key to guarantee the
recovery, promote upward convergence and, consequently, foster a stronger and more resilient social
market economy. In this spirit, CEEP supports the EU institutions efforts to bring to life an ambitious
Multiannual Financial Framework and Next Generation EU, in order to protect and strengthen Europe
resilience and ability to meet its climate, digital and fairness objectives.
The crisis has drastically exposed the result of years of underinvestment in infrastructures, as wel
as the asymmetries that stil divide Member States. The pandemic has further pressured obsolete
infrastructures and compromised the goals of the EU in terms of promoting upward convergence.
SGIs employ over 60 mil ion workers, contribute to approximately 26% of the EU GDP and represent
a large part of the activities that remained operational throughout the crisis. Those services
guaranteed the wel -being and security of citizens and played a vital role in maintaining a certain level
of economic activity which prevented further weakening of the Single Market.
Beyond the crucial services offered by healthcare providers, SGIs also encompass:
Education, which wil lead the skil ing, re-skil ing and up-skil ing, an indispensable feature of
the green and digital transition, particularly amidst demographic changes;
Social services, which support citizens and guarantee the wel -being of the most vulnerable;
Housing, which is increasingly evolving from the exclusive housing provision to the crucial work
of building cohesive communities;
Local and regional authorities, which are crucial to ensure that the EU initiatives reach their
targets on the ground and that economic and social cohesion is enabled at al levels;
National Promotional Banks and Institutions, which have quickly provided necessary
countercyclical support to the economy and are wel placed to al ow smooth articulation
between EU supported funds and existing national public support schemes;
Telecommunication providers, which are instrumental for the maintenance of networks
enabling economic activities, connections between people and businesses;
Water, energy, waste management, transport, which are instrumental infrastructures
responsible for achieving the green transition and fostering the circular economy.
In the context of the definition of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans, CEEP asked its
membership to provide a list of SGI-centred investment projects, in line with the 7 flagship priorities
identified by the European Commission in the 2020 Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy. This
document contains a first col ection of these national examples, which could benefit from future Next
Generation EU funding.
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Fédération des Epl French Federation of Utilities
Local public services enterprises (LPSEs) are smal -scale utilities and companies providing services of
general interest (SGIs) and services of general economic interest (SGEIs). These private-law companies
created by and/or operating for local or regional authorities, stand at the crossroads of private and
public sectors: they are flexible and responsive businesses, whilst fol owing general interest and
community values. LPSEs are present across the European Union, total ing more than 32.000 of such
public undertakings, in various sectors of activity.
French LPSEs are involved in many areas:
Culture and tourism 25,4%
Urban planning 22,7%
Sustainable development, energy, waste management, water, equipment 17,8%
Dwel ing and social housing 13%
Economic development 10,7%
Mobility 6%
Health and social care 4,4%
LPSEs are investors in public services and SGIs. They understand the added value of investing in these
areas better as they are at the core of the issue. The fol owing table summarizes the information on
LPSEs investment for the period 2018-2019, both on a general and segmented basis. This table is also
a compass for LPSEs on their role to propose new strategic investments in the context of the French
Recovery and Resilience Plan: the aim of SGI operators is to ensure that those plans aim at promoting
long-term sustainable growth and long-lasting reforms (as opposed to short-term and ad-hoc rescue
measures).
Amount of tangible
Total value added
Investment rates
investments (
)
produced
Economic development
110
235
46,9%
Environment and networks
677
1 122
60,4%
Housing and real estates
3 326
2 280
145,9%
Mobility / Transports
208
875
23,8%
Planning
178
1 009
17,6%
Services to individuals
17
78
21,2%
Tourism, culture and
178
1 066
16,7%
leisure activities
ALL LPSEs
4 694
6 666
70,4%
This chart al ows us to come up with the fol owing conclusions:
High levels of investments by LPSEs: 4.694mln EUR are invested annual y
Strong propensity to invest: 70% of the added-value generated by LPSEs is devoted to
investment expenditure; compared with 29% for private undertakings
Energy transition-oriented investments: investments are largely oriented towards energy
transition projects (90%) and towards economic development in a residual manner (10%)
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Utilitalia Italian federation of utilities
Utilitalia is the national federation of Italian utilities providing public services and SGIs in the sectors
of environment, water and energy. It was founded in June 2015 from the merger of Federambiente
(environmental services) and Federutility (energy and water services). It is composed of 260
businesses, companies and consortia.
Italy suffers from a chronic deficit in water, urban waste and energy infrastructures and needs
substantial investment to provide adequate services to customers and preserve the environment. The
Utility sector plays a central role in delivering a green and digital transition of the economy. Therefore,
the inclusion of Utility investments in the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan is key to
boosting the pace of transition.
Utilitalia has col ected strategic projects from its members, potential y eligible to be included in the
next Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, analysed them, and al ocated them to different
investment categories. The latter, in turn, were al ocated according to their contribution to green and
digital transition. The total investment proposed by Utilitalia member companies is around 16 bil ion
euros for an amount of 1.400 projects. This is divided between two main categories: green transition
and digitalisation. The green transition category includes investments for a total of about 15bln EUR
in the environment, energy, and water sectors. The digitalisation category encompasses investment
for a total of 1bln EUR.
With the help of the research centre Svimez, Utilitalia has carried out an economic impact analysis
which has revealed that these investments would have a potential impact on the national GDP equal
to +0,9% and on employment of approximately 205.000 incremental units.
Additional y, Utilitalia has conducted a geographical impact analysis, showing that the distribution of
the proposed projects in terms of number of projects and their costs displays a higher concentration
in the North and in the Centre of the country (about 90% in terms of number of projects and 80% of
the total value). This distribution reflects Utilitalia membership structure (fewer members in the South)
but is indicative of the industrial fabric of Southern Italy: a reduced presence of companies capable of
planning and implementing the necessary investments to bridge the infrastructural gap with the North
and thus contribute to solving the Italian gap between Northern and Southern services. The breakdown
of the total investment per region ranges from 24% in the Latium Region (Central Italy), to 14% in
Lombardy (Northern Italy) and to 0,3% in Calabria (Southern Italy).
Although investments in Southern Italy are lower in absolute value than in the North of the country,
their impact on GDP may be comparable to that of Northern Italy. Therefore, to implement the
investment plan within the recovery package, it is necessary to support investments with a process of
strategic sectoral reforms to promote rapid action by industrial players.
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Summary of the investment needs (per area of actions)1:
Areas of actions
Number of projects
Budget required (Mio.
GREEN TRANSITION
1.331
14.985
Supply optimisation
494
6.949
Circular economy
67
1.932
Decarbonisation
32
1.670
Efficient depuration
455
1.436
Smart mobility
20
1.274
Smart Network
164
471
Implementation of the energy
15
369
and climate plan (PNIEC)
Energy efficiency
42
355
Electrical system resilience
25
266
Sustainable cities
11
214
Hydrogen strategy
3
40
Hydrogeological instability
3
9
DIGITAL TRANSITION
67
1.025
Digitalisation
58
1.010
R&D
9
15
1 A detailed breakdown is available on request.
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Wien Energie Energy provider of the greater Vienna area
In Austria, Wien Energie supplies around 2 mil ion customers, 230.000 commercial and industrial
facilities and 4.500 agricultural businesses in the greater Vienna area with electricity, natural gas, and
heat. The company's activities include, amongst others:
Electricity and heating generation
Sales of electricity, natural gas and heating and cooling
Energy advice and energy services
Heat network provision and expansion
Waste recycling
The role of Wien Energie in leading Austria to reach the objectives of the European Green Deal is
central and requires significant investment. In the context of the Next Generation EU recovery plan,
the fol owing projects have been highlighted as priorities:
Summary of the projects proposed:
Project Title
Technology
Description
Planned
Budget required
commissioning
(Mio.
Waste heat recovery
Large heat pump
Large heat pump
from sewage with a
EBS Vienna
technology
thermal output of 55
2022
70
MWth
Utilization of
Large heat pump
Large heat pump
condensation heat
Spittelau
technology
from the waste gas
2022
27
purification process
Exploitation of hot
38 - The whole
project, which wil
Geothermal
Hydro-geothermal
groundwater in
require investments
instal ation 1
energy
deeper layers in the
2024/2025
eastern part of
up to 100 Mio
Vienna
sprawls over several
years.
Waste heat
Large heat pump
Waste heat recovery
utilization
technology
from the data centre
2022/2023
3
Interxion
Innovative Energy
Innovative energy
Concept for a
Innovative energy
supply using district
residential
supply
heating, cooling,
2022
2
development area
waste heat
extraction, etc.
Hydrogen production,
infrastructure and
Green Hydrogen
Hydrogen
use of H2-busses for
2022/2023
30
the decarbonisation
of public transport
Waste recycling
Circular economy
Investments in waste
recycling and logistics
2021-2023
31
Wind park
Renewable Energy
Wind park with 8
wind turbines
2021-2023
24
Electric charging
Electric-Taxi
infrastructure for
infrastructure
E-mobility
urban taxi fleets
2021-2023
2
joint project with
Wiener Linen
TOTAL
-
-
-
227
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Wiener Linen Local public transport in the city of Vienna
Wiener Linien is the company running most of the public transit network in the city of Vienna. It is
part of the city corporation Wiener Stadtwerke Holding AG.
Wiener Linien employ approximately 8.000 people and serve approximately 812 mil ion passengers,
increasing constantly since the 1970s.
In the context of the Next Generation EU recovery plan, and to improve mobility in the city whilst
reducing the carbon footprint of their activities, the fol owing projects have been highlighted as
priorities:
Summary of the projects proposed:
Project
Description
Start
End
Project volume
(Mio.
Construction of an e-
Infrastructure investment
mobility competence for the construction of the
centre in Vienna-
appropriate infrastructure
2021
2025
50
Siebenhirten
for maintenance and
charging of 60 e-buses
Construction of the
Extension of the
tramway from Simmering to
tram network to
Schwechat; including
2021
2023
100
Schwechat
vehicles, infrastructure, and
depot
Extension of the
tramway in the city
Different bundles possible;
centre
line 27, 12, 33, 18
2022
2030
250
Construction of training
places for about 62 people
Training workshop
per year - in total over al
2021
2023
20
age groups there wil be 238
training places
Construction of the Kagran
Kagran depot
depot as a base for further
2021
2028
up to 150
tram expansion
Intensified
Intensify renewal projects
infrastructure
such as the removal of slow-
2021
2025
10
maintenance
moving sections and bridge
refurbishment
Extension of the "Brake
Efficiency measures
Energy" project to four
in the metro system
additional stations for brake
2020
2022
2,7
energy recovery
Increased expansion of PV
Expansion
systems on the roofs of
photovoltaic system
metro stations and buildings
2020
2022
2
of Wiener Linien (1MWp)
Strengthening the
Creation of
multimodal services in the
multimodal nodes
entire urban area by
2021
2030
12
accelerating the rol out of
(15 stations p.a.)
"WienMobil stations"
TOTAL
-
-
-
596,7
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ÖBB Group Austrian Railways
The Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB Austrian Federal Railways) is the national railway system
of Austria. The ÖBB Group is owned entirely by the Republic of Austria and is divided into several
separate businesses that manage the infrastructure and operate passenger and freight services.
Within the ÖBB Group, Rail Cargo Austria (RCA) is the Austrian rail freight transportation company. It
was founded on 1 January 2005 as an independent company from the freight transport division of the
ÖBB Group. RCA is one of three operative sub-companies of the holding company ÖBB-Holding AG.
RCA serves as the leading operating company and manages the cross-border business of the Rail Cargo
Group.
As freight operators, ÖBB Group joined in 2018 the pan-European Rail Freight Forward (RFF) initiative,
representing 90% of the European rail freight market, and committed to an increase of rail modal share
from 18% today to 30% by 2030 in order to neutralise the negative impact of the expected strong
growth of the land-based transport market on environment and society. To achieve this goal, RFF has
identified 5 technologies which would require roughly 18bln EUR until 2030 and funding by the EU.
Seen the cross-border dimension of freight transport, the logic of this investment plan relies on its
implementation across the EU, and it is therefore presented as such.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has proposed the Green Deal with the objective to transform
Europe into the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 and enhance
CO2-emission reduction
targets from 40% to 50% by 2030 in comparison to 1990 levels. Adopting the 30% rail modal share
would contribute to these targets with the 25 mil ion tons of avoided emissions of CO2-equivalents
and approximately 25bln EUR in avoided external costs from 2030 onwards.
The importance of rail freight for the economy was only recently highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis:
railway transport proved not only to be safe and sustainable but also to be extremely resilient with rail
freight being the only mode of transport, which was not significantly affected by the lockdowns.
To achieve the goal of 30% modal share by 2030, RFF has identified 5 enabling, interlinked
technologies which require a coordinated, sector-wide rol out across the EU
Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC)
Autonomous Train Operations (ATO)
Digital Platforms (DP)
European Rail Traffic Management System Level 3 (ERTMS)
Digital Capacity Management (DCM)
Deployment of the key technologies requires investments of roughly 18bln EUR until 2030 and
funding by the EU
The overal investment need subject to a public funding of 18 bn EUR in the timeframe of 2020 2030
is mainly driven by DAC with around 12bln EUR and the ERTMS with around 5bln EUR. The remaining
3 technologies DP, ATO, and DCM require in total around 1bln EUR.
The five technologies can be grouped into 3 categories relating to different rationales for the need of
public funding:
DAC (around 12bln EUR) along with DP (around 0,4bln EUR) require a coordinated deployment
across the whole network in order to reap ful benefits, requiring a robust governance
mechanism at EU level to ensure ful adoption, along with substantial public financing at the
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European level due to the high investment requirement, the long lead-times of benefits, along
with the low financing capacity of the sector due to a lack of profitability.
ERTMS Onboard units (around 5bln EUR) and DCM (0,5bln EUR) are equivalent to investments
in new physical infrastructure whilst being a lot more efficient (less lead-time at significantly
lower costs at an order of magnitude of 5-10%).
ATO requires a continuation within the successor S2R for R&I along with
the potential to al ow RUs to finance
deployment through expected savings.
Summary of the financing needs:
Technology
Description
Planned commissioning
Budget required (Bln
Ful y deploy the DAC
technology wil significantly
improve competitiveness of
the rail
operations
Digital Automatic Coupling
by providing electricity and
data bus line across train,
To be completed by 2030
12
automated brake testing,
electro-pneumatic brakes,
and wil enable train
consistency checks.
Automising train driving,
both driving with
Autonomous Train
supervision of a driver on
Operations
long haul and ful
To be completed by 2030
0,1
autonomous train
operations without driver in
shunting yards
Enabling a seamless
operational data exchange
Digital Platforms
between al players of Rail
To be completed by 2030
0,4
Freight Sector via a Digital
Platform Ecosystem
Rol out of one harmonised
pan-EU Rail Traffic
European Rail Traffic
Management System can
Management System
provide capacity
To be completed by 2030
5
Level 3
improvements on the same
track superstructure needed
to accommodate the
projected rail freight growth
Step-change from assemble-
to-order processes to
Digital Capacity
automated and digitised
Management
train path construction and
To be completed by 2030
0,5
al ocation, paving the way to
real-time capacity
management
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Union Sociale pour Habitat French Federation of Social Housing
The Union Sociale pour
(USH - Social Housing Union) is the French umbrella association
gathering social housing federations. USH was created in 1929. In 2019, the social housing sector in
France was employing 82.000 workers, providing a roof to 10 mil ion citizens in 4,6 mil ion housing
units and accounted for 17bln EUR of investment.
At the cornerstone of both the Green transition of the promotion of a fairer society, public housing is
central component of our EU social economic model. Providing better living conditions to citizens and
renters, an improved building stock wil support a decarbonised and clean energy system. The
building sector is indeed one of the largest energy consumers in Europe, responsible for more than
one third of the EU's emissions. Renovation has been singled out in the European Green Deal as a key
initiative to driving energy efficiency in the sector and delivering on objectives.
In France, Union Sociale pour
estimated that an extra 2bln EUR wil be necessary to complete
the Nouveau Plan de Rénovation urbaine (NPNRU). Via the Agence Nationale de Rénovation Urbaine
(ANRU), those 2bln EUR wil generate 8bln EUR of additional investment, on top of the 40bln EUR
already validated.
Conclusion
Aimed at highlighting the readiness of public services and SGI providers to contribute to the National
Recovery Plans, this paper also shows that the SGI
presented here are in line with the flagship
priorities2 identified in the Next Generation EU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and
translated in the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy.
We therefore cal on the Member States to put SGI investments at the centre of their National
Recovery Plans, and for the European Commission to recognise this reality: our members stand ready
to contribute to the finalisation of these plans, and to ensure a long-lasting green and digital recovery,
able to bring Europe into a new paradigm instead of fighting to be back to business as usual.
2 The 7 flagship areas put forward by the European Commission are the fol owing:
Power up The frontloading of future-proof clean technologies and acceleration of the development and use of renewables, Renovate
The improvement of energy efficiency of public and private buildings, Recharge and Refuel The promotion of future-proof clean
technologies to accelerate the use of sustainable, accessible and smart transport, charging and refuel ing stations and extension of public
transport, Connect The fast rol out of rapid broadband services to all regions and households, including fiber and 5G networks,
Modernise The digitalisation of public administration and services, including judicial and healthcare systems, Scale-up The increase in
European industrial data cloud capacities and the development of the most powerful, cutting edge, and sustainable processors, Reskil and
upskil The adaptation of education systems to support digital skil s and educational and vocational training for al ages.
Electronically signed on 07/07/2021 14:39 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
