Strengthening the trade toolbox: Counter unfair competition in public procurement

On 5 May, the European Commission published its proposal for a new Foreign Subsidies instrument with a view to countering unfair competition against our companies on the public procurement market.

In a changing global environment where strategic interests of foreign actors become of growing importance, the European procurement market still remains one of the most open in the world. This leads to the fact that our companies are facing increasing unfair competition by state-led and state-aided foreign companies, which use different tactics in order to win tenders, such as abnormally low bidding and joint bidding. This does not only distort the level playing field, but can also present a threat to our European economic security. It is therefore important that the presented instrument strengthens the EU trade toolbox and is an effective tool to address unfair competition.

In this webinar, Renew Europe will discuss the proposal on Foreign Subsidies and Public Procurement and its scope with experts, business representatives and the European Commission. Does the new proposal address the issues of distortions on the EU public procurement market sufficiently, or do we need more in order to fight unfair competition?