Re-Municipalisation of Services in Europe – Does the New Paradigm of Municipal Services Provision Appear?

The objective of article is to identify the causes of re-municipalisation of services in European countries, in the years 2000-2014, and to formulate recommendation for Polish local governments in the field of organization in municipal services. The hypothesis, undergoing verification in this article, states that the causes of re-muncipalisation of services are mainly related to the negative effects of municipal services privatization and are associated with the specificity of each municipal sector. The realisation of the main objective of the article and the research hypothesis will be carried out on the basis of: literature and reports studies, analysis of press releases. The main research method is a case study and comparative analysis. The choice of research cases depends on the following criteria: geographical scope, re-municipalisation causes and actors who initiate this process. Remunicipalisation, in European countries, is determined by various factors: socio-economic, financial, politico-ideological and technical. The case study revealed that this causes (except technical) are correlated with specific character of the municipal sector. The water supply and sanitation sector is dominated by socio-economic causes. In the energy sector, the services were re-municipalised by European local governments on the grounds of politico-ideological reasons, whereas in waste management due to financial causes. Technical reasons determined re-municipalisation only if they were awkward for resident.