Over the last decade, numerous pieces of evidence have accumulated demonstrating the repeated failure of public service privatization. These investigations and the multiple paradigmatic experiences of remunicipalization, driven by progressive governments under high pressure, contradict the supposed neoliberal truth that the right, and to some extent social democracy, defended regarding the alleged benefits of this management model.
Contrasted results reveal a fallacy that has left a trail of inefficiency, corruption, clientelism, deteriorated working conditions, and a decline in quality indicators for affected public services. Public services represent the daily experience citizens have with democracy, and public administrations are responsible for treating individuals as holders of fundamental rights that must not only be protected but also continuously expanded, enriched, and improved under the idea of general interest and common good.
Despite numerous obstacles promoted by interests contrary to the general good, the recovery of public ownership of health services from the Alzira model by the Botànic government was an example that, with political will and a priority for the common good, it is possible to prioritize democratic control, direct management, and administrative guarantees for citizens over clientelistic networks and the conversion of public resources obtained through taxes into private profits.
The practice of privatizing, or euphemistically outsourcing, has spread alarmingly at the municipal level, causing numerous problems beyond corruption and clientelism, resulting in increased costs and deteriorating quality of public services. This categorically refutes the premise of preferred and superior private sector management, also leading to deficient working conditions for staff providing services to citizens with public money.
In cities like Valencia, there are numerous (too many) concessions of various types that ultimately represent a diversion of public responsibilities to the private sector. These, with political will, rigor, and institutional effort, should be directly assumed by the City Council. Citizen complaints about the maintenance of privately managed facilities are an example of this, requiring an immediate audit and an urgent reversal plan.
The same applies to water management services, where there are many doubts about the transparency of the information offered by their companies and management bodies. Similarly, this occurs with cleaning and the provision of various auxiliary urban services such as gardening or concierge. In educational matters, the existence of various children's schools should be the subject of serious reflection on the need to assign them to direct public management, ensuring sufficient and dignified working conditions, materials, and infrastructure.
It should be noted that indirect management not only has economic implications and affects the labor dignity of its employees but also concerns citizen rights such as public information. For example, the Valencia City Council should adopt urgent measures to guarantee transparency in companies like Emivasa. If it continues to fail to meet its obligations, necessary measures should be taken to hold it accountable to citizens and competent institutions. The situation of Emivasa should lead to an audit and eventual claim before the Sindicatura de Cuentas. In any case, the service must be remunicipalized to ensure transparency, good management, reduction of fees, and the guarantee of a public service for a basic good of collective interest.
Therefore, it is essential to first initiate a generalized audit process of the current state of concessions to the private sector, with the purpose of evaluating their current status, both legally and in terms of labor, budget, quality standards, and user satisfaction. Subsequently, it will be fundamental to carry out a multi-year urgent intervention plan aimed at reverting to direct management all those public services that, for reasons of general interest, quality improvement, and institutional strengthening, need to be recovered. These decisions will be fundamental pillars for the municipal management of Valencia and will allow a redefinition of the position of citizens as the center of all institutional performance, as well as a new way of conceiving the democratic dimension of budgets and their execution.
