The European Commission published proposals on Wednesday to overhaul how European governments and public bodies spend money on goods and services, a market worth around 15% of the EU’s GDP, or roughly €2.5 trillion (about $2.9 trillion) a year, according to the Commission’s own figures cited by Cyprus Mail and Investing.com.
The plan would replace three separate EU procurement directives with a single regulation, part of a wider effort Brussels is calling its ‘Buy European’ push. It comes amid growing concern, echoed in past warnings from former ECB president Mario Draghi and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, that the EU has failed to use its collective purchasing power to strengthen its own industries.
Encouragement, not quotas
Crucially, the proposal does not impose binding quotas forcing authorities to buy European. Instead, it gives them the option to exclude bids or apply preference criteria based on EU content, and encourages them to factor in risks tied to critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, supply-chain disruption and foreign influence when awarding contracts.
The rules would also make it harder to award contracts purely on lowest cost, a practice the Commission says has let heavily subsidised Chinese suppliers undercut European rivals. Under the new framework, contracts must be awarded based on ‘best price-quality ratio,’ with quality criteria required to make up at least 30% of the total score, rising to 50% for labour-intensive contracts such as construction or services.
Authorities would also be allowed to examine whether a bidder’s ownership, control or financing structure poses a risk of foreign interference, including whether a company could be compelled under a foreign country’s laws to disclose sensitive information.
Cutting paperwork for smaller firms
Alongside the security provisions, the Commission wants to simplify the process for companies bidding on public contracts. It has proposed a single EU-wide tender platform that would let firms, including small and medium-sized businesses, register once rather than repeatedly for each national tender.
This is a radical simplification, as we are moving from three directives to a single regulation. -- Stéphane Séjourné, European Commission Executive Vice-President
It’s a very simple solution for businesses and SMEs alike: just a single registration on this platform, rather than having to register as many times as there are public tenders to respond to. -- Stéphane Séjourné, European Commission Executive Vice-President
Séjourné also tied the proposal to broader ambitions for the EU’s single market, saying, ‘We believe that part of the economic response and the shift in Europe’s economic model also stems from the internal market and its strengthening.’
Part of a wider pattern
Wednesday’s announcement follows a narrower measure that took effect in June 2025, which excluded Chinese companies from EU public procurement of medical devices worth over €5 million. That step was taken under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument, a response to China restricting European firms from bidding on its own government contracts.
The new proposal is also linked to the Commission’s broader European Innovation Act, another initiative meant to bolster the bloc’s industrial and economic standing. Before it can take effect, the procurement overhaul needs endorsement from all 27 EU member states, and details could still change before formal publication.
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