Public power and private power are not alternatives or necessarily conflicting: the economy requires adaptable, multi-dimensional and fluid rules rather than rigid, albeit reassuring, schemas. What can be considered private power and what are the causes that determine its weight? By what means does public power use private power and defend it? To answer these questions is to consider the relationship between politics and administration, lobbying, authorship and credibility of administration, and the search for a renewed measure of trust.

The contribution analyses, in the context of the relationship between State and market, the so-called "golden power". Through an in-depth analysis both historical and of the regulatory framework, the author identifies its origins, its procedural, organizational and control modalities, as well as the prerequisites for its compatibility with the European legal system.