Brussels, 15/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Several MEPs of the EPP-ED Group (Stefano Zappala, Charlotte Cederschiold, Joachim Wuermeling and Malcolm Harbour) and members of the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee, mooted the idea on 14 September of organising a public hearing on public tendering early in 2006 to gather the experience of the Member States in implementing European public tender directives (2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC) which will come into force on 31 January 2006. Joachim Wuermeling (CSU) discussed the great agitation among local authorities over how to interpret EU legislation. British Conservative Malcolm Harbour said such a hearing would give an opportunity to discuss connected issues like public private partnerships and public tendering by internet. German Greens/EFA MEP Heide Ruhle suggested asking a spoken question of the Commission and Council given the urgency and uncertainty in local authority circles.
The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee unanimously adopted the Zappala Report on the Commission's draft directive to correct a technical error in Directive 2004/18/EC on traditional public tendering for public works, supplies and services. The error concerns the thresholds for subsidised public contracts which should be aligned with the thresholds for public contracts signed with central administrations. The European Parliament plenary at the end of September will be looking at this and the correction should pass through Council without amendment, said British Labour MEP Phillip Whitehead, President of the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee. In November, the European Commission will update the public tender thresholds.