De-Regulation and Re-Regulation of Public Utilities: The New Regulatory State in the European System of Multi-Level Governance

‘The degree of change in the ways governance through regulation is exercised can hardly be exaggerated’ (Jordana and Levi-Faur, 2004a, p. 1). This conclusion, drawn by Jacint Jordana and David Levi-Faur in their book on the ‘politics of regulation in the age of governance’, certainly holds for public utilities in Europe. It was in public utilities that the new regulatory state in Europe started its rise with the liberalization and privatization of the British telecommunications sector in the early 1980s. Since then, European countries have witnessed several waves of liberalization and privatization. This trend has included the whole range of public utilities from telecommunications, railways, electricity, and water, which, in most countries for most of the time, have been the exclusive domain of the state (Schneider and Tenbücken, 2004). Hence, the liberalization and privatization of public infrastructures have been among the most significant aspects of a comprehensive transformation of the state and its functions during recent decades (Sørensen, 2004).