Summaries of Articles published in French and Spanish
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237604200409 |
| Published date | 01 December 1976 |
| Date | 01 December 1976 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
i
Summaries
of
Articles
published
in
French
and
Spanish
Public
Service,
Economic
Profitability,
and
Financial
Profitability
J.
GROSDIDIER
de
MATONS
These
three
notions
may
appear
to
be
un-
connected
since
they
belong
to
different
disci-
plines :
Administrative
Law
(droit
administra-
tif),
Economics,
and
Finance.
In
practice,
however,
it
is
quite
possible
to
combine
public
service,
the
quest
for
the
best
economic
results,
and
financial
balance.
The
notion
of
public
service,
which
is
very
important
in
French
administrative
law,
is
un-
clear.
Legal
writers
have
tried,
with
varying
success,
if
not
to
define
it,
at
least
to
indicate
its
scope.
In
practice,
there
is
a
common
I
agreement
that
public
service
is
an
activity
in
the
general
interest
which
is
not
necessarily
undertaken
by
the
administrative
authorities.
The
result
is
a
series
of
rules
of
operation
-
e.g.
continuity,
equality,
adaptability,
and
neu-
trality
-
which
point
to
a
special
status
dif-
ferent
from
that
of
the
non-public
services
gov-
erned
by
private
law.
Some
writers
consider
that
the
rules
and
the
special
legal
status
are
in
jeopardy,
since
the
classical
notion
has
been
severely
criticized.
While
it
is
acknowledged
that
industrial
and
commercial
public
services
may
show
a
profit,
it
is
also
maintained
that
administrative
and
social
public
services
should
be
free
of
charge.
Other,
often
sharp,
criti-
cisms
are
levelled
against
the
finance
and
phi-
losophy
of
the
public
service.
It
is
said
that
a
public
service
depending
on
profitability
would
disappear
if
Mr.
Simon
Nora’s
theory
in
praise
of
profit
were
applied.
The
Nora
Report,
how-
ever,
relates
to
only
one
sector
of the
public
ser-
vices
-
the
wholly
or
partly
State-owned
indus-
trial,
commercial,
and
financial
sector
-
and
is
often
misconstrued,
though
it
contains
nothing
contrary
to
the
notion
of
public
service.
The
ambiguity
is
maintained
by
choosing
inappro-
priate
examples
and
often
quoting
them
for
extra-legal
and
even
political
reasons.
For
instance,
toll
motorways
are
criticized,
but
their
principle
is
not
contrary
to
the
rules
of
public
service.
The
same
applies
to
the
financing
of
seaport
equipment
by
the
users,
when
only
the
cost
of
the
heavy
infrastructure
works
is
paid
by
the
public
authorities.
Almost
all
the
criticisms
are
ill-founded.
There
re-
mains,
however,
the
argument
that
public
service
should
in
future
be
governed
by
the
law
of
profit,
subjected
to
profitability
requi-
rements
incompatible
with
its
nature,
and
man-
aged
by
rules
of
private
law.
To
refute
the
argument,
the
notion
of
public
service
and
the
economic
management
of
the
public
services
should
be
compared.
The
economic
profitability
of
public
services
differs
from
that
of
the
private
sector,
but
perhaps
less
than
is
usually
supposed.
A
pub-
lic
service
is
intended
to
satisfy
a
need
and
automatically
to
meet
the
corresponding
de-
mand,
but
that
in
no
way
implies
that
the
cost
should
not
be
taken
into
account.
Any
varia-
tion
from
this
would
be
absurd.
What
has
become
increasingly
clear
is
that
public
service
and
profitability
are
in
no
way
conflicting,
but
complementary,
ideas.
The
fact
has
not
yet
been
recognized
in
the
literature,
but
the
courts
are
beginning
to
show
the
way
and
some
recent
Council
of
State
decisions
are
clear
on
that
point.
As
Mr.
A.G.
Delion
has
indicated,
however,
there
is
nothing
really
new
about
this
because
all
public
services
are,
in
varying
degrees,
liable
to
be
judged
as
regards
cost/
efficiency
and
because
socio-economic
profit-
earning
has
never
been
altogether
ruled
out.
The
opposition,
in
theory,
between
public
and
private
management
is
peculiar,
since
it
is
centred
on
the
legal
status
of
the
means,
which
is
a
side-issue,
and
not
on
their
effectiveness
in
serving
the
public,
which
is
the
main
thing.
Besides,
the
legal
differences
are
becoming
blurred.
Thus,
it
was
long
stated
that
com-
mercial
accounting
was
quite
unlike
public
accounting
until
the
Decree
of
1962,
which
laid
down
general
regulations
for
public
accounting,
settled
the
question.
The
principles
of
man-
agement
are
the
same
in
both
cases,
though
there
are
differences
in
their
application.
The
question
of
financial
profitability
is
partly
linked
with
the
service
being
free
of
cost,
which
can
only
be
true
from
the
user’s
point
of
view,
since
the
community
foots
the
bill.
It
is
only
reasonable
that
the
user
should
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