Public procurement : EPSU demands consistency from the European Commission

(23 November 2010) The European Federation of Public Service Union (EPSU) together with several other trade unions and civil society organisations (GMB, UNISON, EMF, EFFAT, EFBWW, Solidar, FLO, The Fair Trade Advocacy Office, EFTA, WFTO, FERN and Client Earth) sent a letter to Commissioner Barnier with its initial contribution to the evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of EU procurement legislation and policy. Read the letter below.

The initial input focuses on concerns that the above mentioned organisations have the glaring inconsistencies between internal market policies influencing public procurement and wider social and sustainability policy objectives and commitments of the EU. EPSU urges the EU Commission to use the evaluation process to assess how these inconsistencies can be remedied and how public procurement legislation and policy will have to be amended to better reflect wider legislative, policy and Treaty commitments in these areas.

EPSU also hopes that the current consultation will reinforce a socially sustainable model that focus on employment, decent work, labour standards, fair trade, environmental and sustainability objectives rather than just the existence of an internal market. Read the Evaluation below.

For more information contact: Pablo Sanchez, [email protected], 00 32 4 74 62 66 33