Today the undersigned organisations – Business Europe, the European Builders Confederation (EBC), the European Digital SME Alliance (Digital SME), the European Waste Management Association (FEAD), the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), and the Association of Crafts and SMEs in Europe (SMEunited) – have submitted a joint statement to the European Commission in the context of the ongoing revision of the EU Public Procurement Directives.
Public procurement is a cornerstone of the European economy, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Rooted in the principles of free and fair competition, it fosters the movement of services and goods, driving the success of the single market and the objectives of the EU’s industrial strategy. Transparent and competitive markets are vital to attract private sector investment and innovation.
Despite its importance, competition for public contracts is declining – a concern echoed by the European Court of Auditors. While the European Commission’s ongoing evaluation and revision of the Public Procurement Directives present an opportunity for reform, we are deeply concerned that calls to limit in-house procurement and public-public cooperation have not been adequately reflected in the evaluation and summary reports from the public consultations carried out in 2025 and 2026. Even more troubling is the European Parliament’s resolution of 9 September 2025, which, despite acknowledging fair competition as a fundamental principle, advocates for exempting cooperation between public authorities from procurement rules ‘without further restrictive conditions’.
We, the signatories, emphasize that preferential treatment of public entities -including state-owned enterprises – over private companies should be limited to exceptional cases. Such practices distort free market competition and discourage private investment. In-house procurement and public-public cooperation without a competition should be the exception, strictly limited to cases where they are necessary and justified. Yet, there is a growing trend toward in-house procurement, and public authorities resort to different practices in order to circumvent the existing rules. To ensure fairness, we propose introducing a ‘competition test’. […]
Source: FEAD
