It was an important victory for employees and progressive politics, as the first battle for reform of the EU’s outdated public procurement rules took place today in the European Parliament’s Employment Committee. After the vote, Danish Red-Green Alliance MEP, Per Clausen, is a both happy and relieved man:
I am both happy and relieved about today’s result! We are sending a clear signal that the EU’s outdated procurement rules must be changed AND that it should be possible to make clear demands that companies bidding on public tenders must play by the rules.
It is important that we have won the first battle in the battle to change the public procurement rules!
An open vote
Today’s vote comes after several months of internal negotiations and meetings between the political groups on a compromise text. As the Left Group’s negotiator, Per Clausen played a key role in the process. Therefore he also knew all to well how uncertain the outcome was. The committee’s right-wing politicians seemed internally divided, and could for instance not promise in advance how they would vote on all of the compromises.
This is one of the cases where, before the vote, we actually did not know how it would go. This is not least because the conservative EPP group could not say how it would vote on some aspects, and it seemed to the rest of us as if they were internally divided, says Per Clausen.
Dark proposals from the conservative EPP group
Part of the uncertainty is also down to the fact that, as Per Clausen emphasizes, they were up against a very reactionary right wing, which, among other things, warned against including social clauses in public procurement – something that was otherwise discussed at last year’s major EU social summit in La Hulpe, Belgium. Here it was clear that, despite opposition from parts of the business community, there was support for considering social issues when updating the Procurement Directive.
It is interesting how some conservative EU politicians can see the point of social clauses and those who cannot, says Per Clausen, and continues:
For example, I could not help but notice the sometimes extremely reactionary amendments from the conservative EPP group. I think we saw a clear break with previous policy, when they, among other things, advocate directly against green or social demands in public procurement.
Clear fingerprints from the Red-Green Alliance
Per Clausen had submitted 125 of the total of 313 amendments before the vote, and he is happy to see the clear fingerprints of the Red-Green alliance the on the committee’s final text:
We have managed to include demands for limiting the levels of subcontractors, the possibility of excluding companies that do not respect employee rights and, not least, improving the possibility of including social clauses in the final text. This is a clear result of our hard work.
The Red-Green Alliance’s 125 amendments to the Employment Committee’s text can be found here.
Next step
The next step is a vote in the Internal Market Committee, which will take place in June. Following that, the entire European Parliament must adopt its position, either when it meets in July or September. Per Clausen, who has from the beginning coordinated closely with his Swedish colleague Hanna Gedin, who leads the Left’s negotiations in the Internal Market Committee, will continue to follow the matter and press for internal negotiations.
Today we have won the first battle in the fight to change the outdated Public Procurement Directive. The fight – and our efforts – will continue until we t adopt a strong position in the European Parliament and then change the EU-legislation. This was one of our election promises, and we will continue to fight until we deliver, concludes Per Clausen.
More about the vote
You can read more about the vote here:
- Agence Europa, 13th May: MEPs call for ‘social clauses’ in preparation for revision of EU public procurement rules
