Abstract

The role of state services in a market economy has been lately at the care of an intellectual and political debate in Belgium as well as in most European countries. State companies as the Post Office, the Railways and the Telegraph Service have to face an ever more fierce competition and have to be efficient and profitable.The way to deal with privatisation bas however been much less clearcut in Belgium than in other countries such as the United Kingdom or France. A law bas been passed recently and the monopoly position of the Transport and Telecommunications state companies has been alleviated and their autonomy increased as a result. A distinction has been made between, on the one hand, the commercial activities for which they have to compete with the private sector and, on the other hand, the activities of public interest which are subject to certain limitations laid down in a management contract.