EU Trade Ministers reported on the ongoing work in the EU Council on the international public procurement instrument at their meeting on 20 May. They noted progress on the work in the expert groups.
“Experts have made significant technical progress. The Portuguese Presidency of the Council expects to take the dossier to Coreper in June to reach an agreement between the Member States”, said Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva. The Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council hopes to reach an agreement between the member countries before the end of its mandate.
For EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, there is a very good compromise at the technical level, which allays all concerns.
Several ministers expressed their support for the Portuguese Presidency, which wants to speed up the work on this instrument.
“We realised that in some countries there is still discrimination against European companies and access to public procurement is not guaranteed. We therefore need a simple, effective solution that can be implemented quickly. This is why Germany supports the objective of the Portuguese Presidency and the European Commission”, said German Trade Minister Peter Altmaier.
Some countries also expressed their agreement, while warning about the potential risks of such an instrument. They are concerned about administrative overload affecting supply chains. Alignment with existing tools was also raised, notably by the Netherlands and Spain.
“It will be necessary to apply what already exists, to use old and new tools, while taking into account their impact”, said the Spanish Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Margarida Méndez Bértolo.
Dutch Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag mentioned the European Commission’s proposal on foreign subsidies (see EUROPE 12713/1). “There needs to be some consistency and the Commission needs to speed up work on the foreign subsidies file”, she said. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)