Nuove tendenze nell’affidamento dei servizi di trasporto sanitario ad organizzazioni del terzo settore: nota a sentenza della Corte di giustizia 11 dicembre 2014

This paper deals with the controversial issue of the application of the European Union rules for the award of public contracts for social services to the “third sector” organizations. While originally this subject matter has been entirely reserved to the member States’ competence to shape the national welfare models, in the last years it has been covered by the EU competition and public procurement provisions. However, after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and, in particular, since the adoption of the new Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, some flexible solutions regarding the special role of the third sector in the management of social services have been introduced. The paper analyses the recent judgement of the European Court of Justice in the case Azienda sanitaria locale n. 5 “Spezzino” e.a. in the light of such new trend, underlining the questions that are still open and their possible impact on the Italian ongoing third sector’s reform.