On January 11, 2024, Romania enacted significant amendments to its legislation on public-private partnerships (PPPs). While the country has had a dedicated PPP legal framework since 2002, no major infrastructure projects have been developed through this mechanism. To attract private investors and international financial institutions to participate in such projects in Romania, Government Emergency Ordinance no. 39/2018 on PPPs (GEO no. 39/2018) has been amended substantially.

Slovenia is adopting the EU’s strategy to boost renewable energy (RE) for electricity to enhance decarbonization. Unlike France’s reliance on nuclear power, Germany’s focus on renewables like wind, solar, and hydro hasn’t significantly reduced CO2 emissions, evidenced by its emissions being eight times higher than France’s.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are cooperation agreements between public and private sectors for providing public services traditionally provided by the state and funded by taxpayers. These partnerships involve sharing investments, risks, liabilities, and revenue between the parties, ensuring public welfare by addressing economic challenges in essential sectors. PPPs offer an alternative approach to traditional state-financed projects, allowing faster and more efficient construction of large-scale projects.

In 2021, a new Construction Act (No. 283/2021 Coll.) was adopted in the Czech Republic. This groundbreaking legal norm was designed to solve problems in the permitting process for infrastructure and other projects, such as lengthy administrative procedures, a cumbersome process of obtaining consents and opinions from various authorities, and often a lack of coordination among authorities, which frequently caused inconsistencies in interpreting the law as well as delays.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) offer a way to procure infrastructure and services that traditionally do not include private capital involvement with private finance participation. PPPs have been introduced as a general acknowledgment of the need to solve the infrastructure gap in many countries – especially in emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) countries. EMDE countries need to rely on private resources as a means of accelerating infrastructure development. Attractive for a high degree of flexibility in light of multiple variations across the globe regarding the scoping of a PPP, PPPs enable efficiency and high value for money.

Major infrastructure and industrial projects depend on careful government planning and resources. However, Bulgaria’s government has been in flux since 2021, with six general elections in the last four years. Nevertheless, there have been some legislative developments that could stimulate private investment in the fields of utilities, transport, postal services, energy, and industrial manufacturing.