“Stop the publicly financed race to the bottom in public procurement” MEPs say to the Commission  

MEPs have submitted an official written question to the European Commission on fixing public procurement. They ask for clarification on how the Commission aims “to stop the publicly financed race to the bottom in terms of working conditions”. 

Sixty Members of the European Parliament, from across five political groups have co-signed a written question on public procurement and decent work to the European Commission. The written question, filed by MEP Agnes Jongerius, is an official institutional process to which the EU Commission is held to provide a formal reply.  

Every year, €2 trillion is spent by governments and public institutions across the EU for goods and services delivered by private corporations. This money can play a determining role in lifting working people’s conditions. Instead, this money often fuels the race to the bottom.  

Currently, public procurement rules are skewed to favour price over all other considerations. UNI Europa research revealed that half of tenders in the EU are being awarded based solely on the lowest price, in compliance with the EU’s Public Procurement Directive. Under these circumstances, corporations are incentivised to undercut each other on working conditions by suppressing their workers’ fundamental collective bargaining rights. 

In their request, the MEPs reference UNI Europa’s open letter to the European Commission and EU Presidencies and they urge the European Commission to respond. The open letter relays how more than 160 MEPs are calling for improvements for workers; calling for swift legislative action to ensure that no public contracts can go to companies without collective agreements. 

“If only the lowest price is leading for governments when awarding public contracts, companies will drive down workers’ conditions and undermine democracy at work to win the contract. Across the EU, half of all public contracts put price above everything else, which incentivises this race to the bottom. The EU Commission must take its responsibility and fix the Public Procurement Directive to ensure this can no longer happen,” said Agnes Jongerius (S&D, the Netherlands), S&D Coordinator in the Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee. 

The written request filed by the MEPs is an official institutional process, to which the EU Commission is held to provide a formal reply. MEPs have a limited number of such written requests they can send.  

“We have a critical mass of EU law-makers who are actively pushing for the EU to take its responsibilities towards working people. The fact that they use their institutional voice to push to fix public procurement illustrates their commitment to fix this pressing issue. Every day that public money is allowed to incentivise social dumping is a day when our institutions fail working people. It’s time to fix the Public Procurement Directive,” said Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa.  

Further information: 

• The MEP written request – Revising public procurement legislation to stop the publicly financed race to the bottom on working conditions. 
• Support the campaign – No public contract without collective agreement 

The written question is submitted by Agnes Jongerius and co-signed by the following MEPs (alphabetical order by last name): 

1. Eric Andrieu, France, S&D 
2. Marc Angel, Luxembourg, S&D 
3. Manon Aubry, France, The Left 
4. Margrete Auken, Denmark, Greens/EFA 
5. Brando Benifei, Italy, S&D 
6. Monika Beňová, Slovakia, S&D 
7. Gabriele Bischoff, Germany, S&D 
8. Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Lithuania, S&D 
9. Milan Brglez, Slovenia, S&D 
10. Damien Carême, France, Greens/EFA 
11. Mohammed Chahim, Netherlands, S&D 
12. Leila Chaibi, France, The Left 
13. Ilan De Basso, Sweden, S&D 
14. Özlem Demirel, Germany, The Left 
15. Klára Dobrev, Hungary, S&D 
16. Estrella Durá Ferrandis, Spain, S&D 
17. Matthias Ecke, Germany, S&D 
18. Cindy Franssen, Belgium, EPP 
19. Malte Gallée, Germany, Greens/EFA 
20. Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Spain, S&D 
21. Jens Geier, Germany, S&D 
22. Maria Grapini, Romania, S&D 
23. Elisabetta Gualmini, Italy, S&D 
24. Francisco Guerreiro, Portugal, Greens/EFA 
25. Sylvie Guillaume, France, S&D 
26. Heidi Hautala, Finland, Greens/EFA 
27. Hannes Heide, Austria, S&D 
28. Alicia Homs Ginel, Spain, S&D 
29. Yannick Jadot, France, Greens/EFA 
30. Agnes Jongerius, Netherlands, S&D 
31. Dietmar Köster, Germany, S&D 
32. Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, Finland, S&D 
33. Aurore Lalucq, France, S&D 
34. Katrin Langensiepen, Germany, Greens/EFA 
35. Karsten Lucke, Germany, S&D 
36. Chris MacManus, Ireland, The Left 
37. Nora Mebarek, France, S&D 
38. Matjaz Nemec, Slovenia, S&D 
39. Maria Noichl, Germany, S&D 
40. Carina Ohlsson, Sweden, S&D 
41. Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Greece, The Left 
42. Anne-Sophie Pelletier, France, The Left 
43. Sirpa Pietikäinen, Finland, EPP 
44. Dennis Radtke, Germany, EPP 
45. Evelyn Regner, Austria, S&D 
46. René Repasi, Germany, S&D 
47. Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, Spain, The Left 
48. Dorien Rookmaker, Netherlands, ECR 
49. Mounir Satouri, France, Greens/EFA 
50. Andreas Schieder, Austria, S&D 
51. Günther Sidl, Austria, S&D 
52. Paul Tang, Netherlands, S&D 
53. Vera Tax, Netherlands, S&D 
54. Ernest Urtasun, Spain, Greens/EFA 
55. Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgium, S&D 
56. Monika Vana, Austria, Greens/EFA 
57. Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, Spain, The Left 
58. Nikolaj Villumsen, Denmark, The Left 
59. Marianne Vind, Denmark, S&D 
60. Lara Wolters, Netherlands, S&D