Provision of Public and Personal Social Services

In this chapter addresses the provision of personal social services and of public services. The provision of personal social services (such as elder care) has historically been marked by the predominant role of non-public non-profit organization based on the principle of subsidiarity. Following the market liberalization set off by the federal legislation of 1994 private sector providers began to prevail. Contrarily public services (such as water supply, sewage, energy etc.) have historically been largely provided by actors and companies owned by or connected with the local authorities exemplified by the municipal utilities (Stadtwerke). Under the EU-driven market liberalization since the 1980s the latter lost ground to the private sector competitors before the reverse trend of “remunicipalization” gained momentum.