On Tuesday, 13 May, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted its opinion on the upcoming revision of European public procurement rules by 40 votes to 10 with one abstention.
In particular, the committee insisted on the need to introduce ‘social clauses’ and to consider the issue of subcontracting, such as awarding public contracts to companies proposing collective agreements. Price should not be the criterion on which decisions are based.
As shadow rapporteur Per Clausen, a Danish MEP, stated in a press release, certain MEPs believe that they have won an important victory for employees and progressive politics. The MEP notably criticised the “dark proposals from the conservative EPP group”, which was opposed to “including ‘social clauses’ in public procurement”.
The Dane continued, “We have managed to include demands for limiting the levels of subcontractors, [...] excluding companies that do not respect employee rights and, not least, improving the possibility of including ‘social clauses’ in the final text.”
The EPP group was reportedly very divided between those in favour of these ‘social clauses’ and those who wanted to remove them from amendments—amendments that were ultimately not adopted.
The next step is for a vote to be held during the Committee on the Internal Market meeting in June.
Link to the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/gst (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)