EU Policy: Historically, the EU has been neutral as to ownership of assets, e.g. there has been no policy on privatisation. However, in addition to a policy on deregulation of public services, there has been, since 1999, a clear policy from the European Commission to increase the level of private funding of infrastructure, e.g. in the transport sector, and the PPP structure is one way of achieving that policy objective. The use of the PPP mechanism was also endorsed by the Council of European Union meeting of December 2003.
EIB Policy: Most International Finance Institutions (IFIs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), e.g. World Bank and EBRD, have policies which actively promote the PPP mechanism. The Bank, on the other hand, reflects EU policy on how public projects are procured, and has no preference as to whether a project is implemented using conventional public-sector procurement or via a PPP. The Bank may be perceived as supporting the use of PPPs, but its actual position is one of neutrality between the two procurement mechanisms. Its involvement in PPPs is a reflection of how a number of its clients want to procure their projects. Similarly, "PPP" is not an eligibility criterion for the EIB. Eligibility is based on the underlying project, and the Bank's normal eligibility and project quality tests are applied.
National Policies: There is no common policy between EU member states on the desirability of the PPP mechanisms. Some countries, e.g. the UK and Spain, have made substantial use of the mechanism. Others have not used it at all. Projects supported by the Bank have to have the consent of the relevant Member State government and it must be assumed that any PPP project receiving this consent is in line with national policies.