Opening statement by Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy
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So we start.
With Commissioner Séjourné, Vice President, Executive Vice President of the Commission,
on behalf of the Commission. Mr. Commissioner, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, honorable members, every year, €200 billion generated by public procurement,
15% of our GDP in the EU as a whole.
So we're talking about a considerable economic lever in our hands.
It could be a real source of positivity.
It could be better mobilized for social cohesion, for decarbonisation,
for innovation, for economic security in Europe as a whole. This reform of public procurement.
Pursues, I would say two objectives as we speak today.
First of all, simplification across the board, and then secondly, more strategic use of this money, which is the taxpayers' money.
Let me start maybe with simplification in my address.
The rules governing public procurement in Europe represent approximately 900 pages of European texts altogether,
in addition to which you have transposition, national transposition, etc. On top of all that, so.
One directive, 3 directives, approximately 20 different regulations.
Basically it's incredibly complex and we would be putting an end to that complexity by suggesting that there be just one single regulation.
Three procedures 5,
an e-platform that is accessible in all the languages of the EU and also public procurement that is modeled in such a way as to allow us to apply criteria more easily and also making sure that public buyers have better visibility of the system. Also, we want to be more strategic.
We're talking about, like I said, €200 billion in total.
€600 billion will actually be covered by the legislation that we are putting forward here before you. It's basically like the recovery plan.
It's the equivalent of that if you'd like. We're talking about three European budgets.
That's what it corresponds to annually if you look at the amounts as a whole. So that is what it corresponds to. And every year. It corresponds basically to the investment deficit. It's almost the same thing.
The figures mentioned by Mario Draghi in his report, that's what it corresponds to.
So the taxpayers' money,
public money should be used for our purposes and of course strategic reorientation of public spending because this happens on an annual basis.
That is our mission and it will be very important going forward in terms of our priorities for the future. The new standard.
I think would be the best cost price ratio or principle. It's not all about price. That's the principle of the text.
It's not just about how much it costs.
It's also a question of making sure that social requirements, environmental innovation, sovereignty principles are.
Also met in these public procurement exercises and when it comes to public buyers,
this text would give them a tool for genuine European preference,
abiding by our international commitments and abiding by the principle of reciprocity. It corresponds to Olof that. This text is also a tool.
The idea being to give you leverage, levers for those who buy, those who invest in our future.
Providing a whole wealth of opportunities and possibilities for all those who today are involved in public procurement. I mean just an administrative act.
This administrative act would be transformed in the future.
It would become a European public procurement strategy. That is what it would amount to.
And therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to our exchanges on these points,
and the Commission would be delighted to start this discussion with the co-legislators moving towards.