Brussels, 12/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament will attempt to reach agreement on how to tackle the question of water board management in Germany, during this Thursday's trialogue on public procurement and concessions.
The Irish Presidency is hoping that this negotiating session will help towards establishing a political agreement on the legislative package, even though there could be some technical changes to the text later on. Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium), rapporteur on the public procurement directives review informed EUROPE that “things are moving forward. It is, however, rather unlikely that everything is concluded on Thursday”. Philippe Juvin (EPP, France) said that “this should have been the last trialogue but this is not going to be the case”. Discussions were still continuing in an attempt to arrange one or, indeed, two negotiating sessions so that talks could be completed by the end of June.
Stadtwerke. On Wednesday 12 June, member states' representatives to the EU (Coreper) examined the issue of concessions and a provision that would allow German municipal companies (“Stadtwerke”) to continue to obtain water management contracts without having to compete for them (see EUROPE 10791). The aim is to develop a text that grants “the necessary flexibility and guarantees an absence of measures that could distort competition”, explained one European source. The idea could be to isolate, from an accounting point of view, water board management contracts awarded to Stadwerke, on condition that the turnover achieved with other parties does not exceed 20%. A review clause after three years, following on from a Franco-German agreement, as well as geographical restrictions, could also be included.
The threshold on which the concessions directive will apply is still a subject of debate. The Council referred to international agreements and would like to have a €5 million limit for all concessions, whereas the EP opted for €8 million. The threshold may differ if it involves concessions for work contracts or services.
Social considerations. On the “public procurement” directive, the main stumbling block involved the taking into account of social legislation in the employment field when awarding public contracts. The EP is continuing to fight for the introduction of a chain of responsibility, which would compel a company that has won a contract to ensure that the companies to which it has subcontracted part of the contract, respect the legislation of the host country. Tarabella stressed that he was very keen on seeing this point respected. The Council's position is “less ambitious” than that of the EP, according to the European source quoted above and it believes that a reasonable way forward has to be found that does not infringe European or national rules in force or restrict the cross-border provision of services. (MB/transl.fl)