February 15, 2008 Paris (LPAC)--French Economics and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde yesterday presented a draft of a new law to extend the development of corporatist public-private-partnerships (PPPs). Under the draconian "no-spending" conditions of the Maastricht agreement and the Stability Pact, France has already turned to private capital to finance such basic infrastructure as energy and sports facilities. New targets for PPPs are transportation and prisons. 10 billion euros of PPP deals have been authorized so far, in projects ranging from airports, to school systems, highways, water treatment, and many basic government functions. Still, France lags far behind Britain, where PPPs represent 15% of all public services.

Lagarde's proposal intends to simplify procedures and lower the prohibitive taxes which have so far restrained PPPs in France. Until now, in order to get approval for a PPP deal, local and state authorities had to prove they were facing an "emergency" situation or extremely "complex" conditions. Lagarde's new proposal adds the criterion of "higher efficiency" to make PPPs easier, to the delight of the bankers.

With the economy collapsing, of course, emergencies pop up everywhere, and "emergency" PPPs are in the works for education, research, security, defense, health and transport infrastructure.