EU-Kommissionen skal presses til at ændre det kontroversielle udbudsdirektiv, det er formålet med en ny, bred og tværpolitik europæisk alliance som Enhedslisten er med til at starte i EU-Parlamentet i dag.

EU’s udbudsregler står i vejen for kampen for bedre arbejdsvilkår, kampen mod social dumping og for fair konkurrence – og derfor er vi nødt til at få dem ændret, siger Enhedslistens Nikolaj Villumsen.

Tirsdag den 23. april, klokken 13, lanceres European Public Procurement Alliance i EU-Parlamentet i Strasbourg, en alliance der skal sætte EU-Kommissionen under pres.

Bag alliancen står de fire EU-parlamentarikere, der de sidste fem år har haft mest indflydelse på EU-Parlamentets beskæftigelses- og socialpolitik:

1. Nikolaj Villumsen (Enhedslisten, Danmark), fra Venstrefløjsgruppen
2. Agnes Jongerius (Holland), fra den Socialdemokratiske gruppe
3. Sara Matthieu (Belgien), fra den Grønne gruppe
4. Dennis Radtke (Tyskland), fra den Konservative EPP-gruppe.

De fire EU-politikere, der hver især er deres politiske gruppers såkaldte koordinatorer i EU-Parlamentets Beskæftigelses – og Socialpolitiske udvalg, har et klart formål med alliancen: Selv om EU-Kommissionen hidtil har afvist at se på sagen, skal det kontroversielle udbudsdirektivet revideres, og hellere før end senere.

Jeg synes, det er hul i hovedet, hvis man vil fortsætte med at hælde offentlige penge i firmaer der konsekvent ikke overholde gældende love og regler, eller som gemmer sig i skattely. Derfor er vi nødt til at sikre at det kan stoppes, siger Nikolaj Villumsen

Helt konkret ønsker politikerne bag alliancen at gøre de såkaldt sociale klausuler obligatoriske i offentlige udbud. Det vil betyde, at man vil kunne kræve, at virksomheder, der byder på offentlige kontrakter, accepterer retten til kollektive overenskomster, skal ansætte lærlinge og at man bl.a. kan udelukke virksomheder der konsekvent overtræder arbejdsmiljøreglerne.

Politikerne bag alliancen er enige om, at de ca. 15 billioner danske kroner, svarende til 14% af hele EU’s BNP, der hvert år bruges på offentlige indkøb, kun skal kunne gå til de virksomheder, der spiller efter reglerne.

Citater fra de involverede EU-Parlamentarikere

Dennis Radtke: “Offentlige udbud kan spille en vigtig rolle i at styrke ordentlige arbejdsforhold, kollektive forhandlinger og fair konkurrence. Kun at fokusere på den billigste pris er kontraproduktivt. Vi bør nøje analysere hvordan, man kan forbedre det nuværende direktiv.”

Agnes Jongerius:  “Vi ser for ofte at essentielle services, som offentlig transport og pleje, bliver reduceret til dårlige jobs på grund af udbud der alene fokuserer på prisen. Det her handler om essentielle jobs, de fortjener bedre. “

Sara Matthieu: “Den grønne omstilling er en mulighed for at forbedre jobkvaliteten og gøre Europa mere socialt. Vi bør placere lønmodtagerne i hjertet af omstillingen.”

Nikolaj Villumsen: “Ved at ændre EU’s udbudsregler, kan vi sikre, at vores skattekroner ikke bruges på social dumping, men i stedet øremærkes til virksomheder der overholder gældende overenskomst og bidrager til fællesskabet i stedet for at gemme sig i skattely.”  

I forbindelse med lanceringen har de fire politikere udgivet en fælles erklæring, der kan læses nedenfor.

Statement on the Public Procurement Alliance

Every year, EU Member States spent altogether roughly two trillion euros on public procurement. Public procurement is vital to the functioning of our society. It for instance concerns energy, infrastructure, transport, health, cleaning, waste management and many other essential services.

Regrettably, many public tenders are awarded solely based on lowest price, while service quality, working conditions or environmental impact are simply not considered. According to a European Parliament study, in 2021 ten Member States awarded 82-95% of their tenders solely on the basis of the lowest price or cost. But the logic of the lowest price is short sighted. It undermines the quality of services and consumer products and it hurts workers and companies alike.

Time and again, we see publically financed projects being awarded to companies that risk the lives of workers by not observing basic health and safety rules; or to companies that exploit posted workers by paying them less than the applicable minimum wage. In such cases, public procurement becomes an incentive for companies to undercut each other on working conditions in order to offer the cheapest services, which also undermines fair competition.

We believe this type of competition should not be rewarded. The public should not finance social dumping. Rather we want to finance and promote companies that respect our collective rules and values while providing solutions to the welfare and environmental challenges of our time. Two trillion euros can be a powerful instrument to boost the social market economy and transform the face of the European economies in a fair and sustainable way.

Our call is mirrored in Enrico Letta’s report on the Single Market, which emphasises that: “Public procurement regulations must ensure that contracts foster the creation of high-quality jobs, characterised by fair wages and conditions underpinned by collective agreements”.

We, the lawmakers, must therefore do our part. The Public Procurement Alliance works for fair public procurement and we commit to the following:

1. to revise the EU’s public procurement framework and make social clauses mandatory in all public tenders throughout the subcontracting chain. The current voluntary approach to the application of social clauses is not sufficient.

2. to ensure that public tenders only are awarded to companies that respect collective bargaining and trade unions. Collective bargaining and social dialogue is the heart of the European labour model and public procurement can help promote this. This in turn will help Member States achieve 80 pct. collective bargaining coverage.

3. to empower contracting authorities on the basis of fundamental ILO Conventions, such as Conventions 98 and 87, with the authority to exclude companies from public tenders that commit fraud or breach workers’ rights.

4. to clearly limit subcontracting chains in public tenders. There are many valid reasons for subcontracting, but endless subcontracting chains have no other purpose than to circumvent the rules or otherwise commit fraud.

5. to ensure up-skilling of workers. The European labour market is in shortage of skilled labour that meets the challenges of the green and digital transition. Therefore, all public tenders should include earmarked paid trainee and apprenticeships.

Founding members:

Dennis Radtke, MEP, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, EPP, Germany

Agnes Jongerius, MEP, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, S&D, The Netherlands

Sara Matthieu, MEP, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, Greens, Belgium

Nikolaj Villumsen MEP, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, Left, Denmark

Mere om alliancen

Læs mere om den nye alliance her:

1. Fagbladet 3F: Toppolitikere i EU-Parlamentet i ny alliance mod lønsnyd på store byggerier
2. Politico Pro Fair Play: Public procurement alliance
3. Altinget: Bred koalition af europæiske politikere vil tvinge sociale hensyn ind i offentlige indkøb
4. Agence Europe: Four MEPs launch European Public Procurement Alliance
5. UNI Europa: Members of European Parliament launch “Public Procurement Alliance”