Brussels, 01/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a draft resolution compiled by Jan Zahradil (ECR, Czech Republic), which was adopted on Thursday 28 May by 34 votes in favour, 5 against and 2 abstentions, the European Parliament's international trade committee urges the EU to do more to help EU companies (especially SMEs) benefit from increased access to third country government procurement in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP).
The Zahradil report calls for the current asymmetry to be fought in opening up government procurement, as the EU opens its public procurement broadly to foreign companies while many third countries continue to favour their national companies. Against this backdrop, MEPs call on the European Commission to include instruments in the free trade agreements negotiated by the EU, enabling European companies to compete on an equal footing with national companies in third countries. MEPs also call on the Commission to remove red tape and technical and procedural barriers that hamper the ability of European companies to take part in joint ventures.
PPP bring together a wide and varied spectrum of public actors (governments, agencies and international organisations) and private entities (companies or non-profit making bodies) in order to form a cooperative relationship to achieve a project such as constructing a sustainable waste management system in a developing country with the help of private sector resources and innovation.
If they are implemented effectively, PPP can also offer citizens from the least developed countries high-quality, accessible and affordable goods, infrastructures and services, the draft resolution states. MEPs nevertheless underline the lack of institutional framework in some third countries, the lack of good practice and transparency, and the need to fight corruption, and they call on the Commission to promote these principles beyond the EU's borders. In addition, MEPs call on the Commission to monitor the EU's companies abroad, identify the most successful projects and conduct a study on the effect of the EU's free trade agreements and the access to foreign PPP. (Emmanuel Hagry)