Notes
At the end of 2012 the Republic of Croatia adopted a new legal framework for awarding concessions, based on the Draft Directive on the award of concession contracts from 2011. The Concession Contract Directive 2014/23EU on the award of concession contracts was adopted in February 2014, with an implementation period of two years for all Member States. Until the Concessions Directive the award of works concessions was subject to a limited number of secondary law provisions, while service concessions were covered only by the general principles of the Treaty of the functioning of the EU (TFEU). Concessions Directive defines both works and services, and relies on CJEU case law, which is analysed in this thesis. EU countries had to transpose this directive into their national legislation by 2016. Also, public procurement is guided by doctrines developed by the CJEU, which try to combine the basic principles of public procurement regulation with the basic principles established by the EU Treaties. EU procurement law is set out in principal directives, namely the 2014 Concession Contracts Directive 2014/23/EU, the 2014 Public Sector Directive 2014/24/EU, the 2014 Utilities Contracts Directive 2014/25/EU, (together known as "the 2014 Procurement Directives"). New directives have been adopted due to the fact that 2004 Public Procurement Directives only partially covered concessions and the absence of clear EU rules led to legal uncertainty and obstacles to free provision of services. It also caused distortions to the functioning of the internal market, such as the direct award of contracts without transparency or competition which risked national favouritism, fraud and corruption. Therefore, it was inevitable for the EU to bring the new Directives. Viewed from multiple sides, concessions are a successful way of entrusting public services, entrusting public works to private persons, and attracting foreign capital in the EU countries. Concession regimes allow the involvement of private investors and their financial resources to achieve public benefits, accelerate the construction of public infrastructure facilities, liberate the state and local and regional government units, exposing them to the lower financial risks, and by giving them the right to oversee objects of public interest. This thesis analyses the legal status of the airport concession model in the Republic of Croatia, presents existing regulations in detail, lists all the advantages and disadvantages of current regulations and proposes amendments and solutions de lege ferenda. First chapter, Introduction, gives an overview of concessions in the Republic of Croatia and the situation at the level of EU Member States, and learns about complex legal issues in the process of awarding concessions. Second chapter, Analysis of Current Events Prior to Directive 2014/23, provides detailed review of all Croatian Acts concerning concession regimes until today, and refers to the example of Zagreb International airport and gives an overview of the concession contract awarded for the period of 30 years. The Third chapter, The Current Status of Concession Regimes in the Republic of Croatia and the EU, refers to different kinds of concessions according to the Croatian Concessions Act and as a legal institute in the EU Directives, it also provides examples of positive and negative elements of the Croatian legal system. Fourth chapter, Case Law - from the view of the European Court of Justice, analyses the most influential cases in concessions, PPPs and public procurement. Also, it provides insight into CJEU practice, showing that in most of the rulings of the CJEU it is evident that contracting authorities were advised to make decisions based upon the award criteria. Fifth chapter, Analysis of the Future Law - The Lege Ferenda, gives an overview of the importance of parallel development of all three roles of the airport (traffic, industrial and commercial), in order for the airport to develop not only one-way but also economically and raise the importance of the entire region. Sixth chapter, Comparative Analysis on Models of Airports in Terms of Geographical and other Functional Differences, widely explains different types of management, describes the three different airports in Europe and compares it to the only Croatian example. The Seventh chapter, The Aviation Industry and Coronavirus, gives insight into the current situation of the aviation industry and the consequences occurred after the appearance of COVID-19 virus. Moreover, how much it affected the aviation sector, the decrease in passenger transport and the further development of the aviation industry. Also, the chapter provides proposals for actions in case of force majeure and the concession provider's ability to act under the concession contract for the construction and management of "Franjo Tudjman" Airport. Eighth chapter, Research Results - De Lege Ferenda, learns about the need to amend the Concessions Act, the Airports Act, the Air Traffic Act, by-laws such as Spatial Plans of local governments in order to free the concession provider from the operational risk that would have to be transferred to the concessionaire by signing the concession agreement and binding the concessionaire to develop all airport roles, and not just transport role through the development of passenger transport. Ninth chapter, Conclusion, provides a summary of all major points in this thesis and emphasizes the importance of airport development through the concession model, as an important element for the regional development of the Republic of Croatia.