Tuesday 23. April 2024, at 13.00 the European Public Procurement Alliance was launched in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The alliance, composed of key Members of the European Parliament representing different political groups and countries, aims to keep up the pressure on the Commission and Council to revise the EU’s outdated rules on Public Procurement, including not least the Public Procurement Directive.

The ambition is to secure a revision that means the Europe’s yearly 2 trillion euros worth of public procurement can be put to better use in shaping the European economy, ensuring fair competition and ensure decent working conditions.

The alliance is launched, in their own capacities by the following Members of the European Parliament:

• Dennis Radtke, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, EPP, Germany
• Agnes Jongerius, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, S&D, The Netherlands
• Sara Matthieu, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, Greens, Belgium
• Nikolaj Villumsen, Coordinator on Employment and Social Affairs, Left, Denmark

About the motives behind the alliance the MEPs say:

Dennis Radtke: “Public Procurement can play an important role in strengthening fair working conditions, collective bargaining and fair competition. Focusing only on the cheapest price is counterproductive. We should carefully analyze how improvements can be made to the current Directive.”

Agnes Jongerius:  “Too often we see essential services like public transport or care getting stripped down to poor quality jobs due to tenders that solely focus on price. This is about essential jobs, they deserve better.”

Sara Matthieu: “The green transition is an opportunity to improve job quality and make Europe more social. We want to put workers in the heart of the transition.”

Nikolaj Villumsen: “By turning the EU’s rules on Public Procurement into an effective policy tool, we can help build more resilient economies, create more fair competition and at the same time ensure decent working conditions.”

The statement about the alliance can be read below:

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

More about the

You can read more about the European Public Procurement Alliance here:

• UNI Europa: Member of European Parliament launch “PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ALLIANCE”
• IPS-Journal: Towards fair European economies
• IPG-Journal: Geiz ist nicht geil
• Agence Europe: Four MEPs launch European Public Procurement Alliance
• Politico Pro Fair Play: Public procurement alliance
• Agence Europe: Quatre eurodéputés lancent l’Alliance européenne pour les marchés publics