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This is a stimulating work on a theme that is not always easy to renew: public service. Such is, however, the challenge taken up by the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Constitutional Law (C.I.R.C.) and the Department of Legal Recycling of the Facultés Saint-Louis de Bruxelles, during a study day organised on 27 November 2008, the proceedings of which form the basis of this publication. While the emphasis is placed on the importation into Belgium of the French concept of public service and its evolution in the doctrine and jurisprudence of this country, most of the contributions are also an opportunity to highlight the inevitable transformation of the concept under the influence of European law. Thus Volume 1 ("Le service public : past, present and future") tackles several issues at the heart of the European Union’s action in the field of public services, such as the question of their financing under the forks of State aid control, the liberalisation of network industries (audiovisual, energy, telecommunications) and today of certain sectors in "... the European Union’s action in the field of public services".grey area" (education, social housing); or the evolution of relations between the providers of these services and their recipients, whose expectations are becoming more and more those of consumers than of users. The legal framework of public services is dealt with in Volume 2 under the heading "The ’laws’ of public service". The well-known traditional triptych of the French administrative judge (continuity, equality, mutability) is thus explored in detail, as well as what could be called the new principles of public service, of European origin or inspiration: efficiency, quality and transparency; a very topical digression, in Belgium as in France, being moreover devoted to the question of the neutrality of public services. This will provide food for thought on the "Europeanisation of public service law" and provide a new perspective on the prospects now opened up by the Lisbon Treaty, "between threats and renewal", to quote the general conclusions of the book, which can only call for a more detailed review in the next edition of this column.
