News

On September 5, the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection endorsed the compromise text on public procurement developed by the negotiating team (composed of representatives of the Council, the Parliament and the Commission). The text is now expected to be voted in plenary in the European Parliament before the end of the year. Even if some points are not satisfactory, this text contains some good provisions for health, social and other services provided directly to the person. Yet, last week the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the internal market for services in which it "encourages the gradual opening-up of the internal market for services in the welfare sector, while respecting the provisions of the Services Directive".

In the public procurement directive we can see indeed some good changes compared to the legislation in force: simpler rules for social, health and other services provided directly to the person (educational, cultural, training services) have been introduced, as well as a higher threshold above which public procurement rules have to apply (750.000€ for this kind of services, while the general threshold amounts to 500.000€). Another good novelty is that contracts will no longer be awarded on the basis of the lowest price.  Social Platform with its members and other partners have been advocating for these key demands. Rapporteur Marc Tarabella said to Europolitics: “We have put an end to the dictatorship of the lowest price by introducing the criterion of the most economically advantageous tender, which makes it possible to take account of product durability, life-cycle costs and, what is very important for us Socialists and Democrats, respect for social criteria”.

On the contrary the resolution on the internal market for services fails to recognise that "welfare services" are not commercial services which are driven by a profit making logic. Social, health and other essential services provided directly to the person have a specific mission to fulfil, which is help people enjoy their fundamental rights and promote social cohesion and social inclusion in the EU, by paying particular attention to the most in need. Unfortunately belief in the false myth that competition with commercial providers is good is still very dominant. But are we really sure that the market alone can improve the quality of services and really contribute to more equal and cohesive societies? We do not think so.