European Parliament Calls On European Commission to Enhance Socially Responsible Public Procurement

European Parliament Calls On European Commission to Enhance Socially Responsible Public Procurement

On 9 September 2025, the European Parliament adopted in its plenary session an Own-Initiative Report* regarding the soon-to-be-revised Public Procurement Directive by the European Commission in 2026.

The Public Procurement Directive is the legislation that specifies that when national authorities use public procurement to invite tenders to provide works, supplies or services, they must treat all applicants equally, not discriminate against them, and ensure transparency.

The European Parliament’s own-initiative report includes the following key points:

• It underlines that, even if the current Public Procurement Directive already gives the option to public contracting authorities to consider factors such as innovation, resilience, sustainability and social considerations as awarding criteria, in certain cases public contracts continue to be awarded primarily on the basis of the lowest price criterion – in some EU countries, up to 95% of contracts are awarded under this criterion. This might encourage unfair competition that is at the expense of quality, sustainability and social standards. Therefore, the European Parliament calls for tenders to not only be evaluated on price, but also on quality, regional impact or continuity of supply of complex and essential services.
• The European Parliament recognises the significant potential of socially responsible public procurement (SRPP) in promoting decent work, social inclusion and sustainable development; encourages contracting authorities to systematically integrate social criteria in public procurement procedures; and calls on the Commission to assess the inclusion of social criteria in the procurement procedures and provide a clear legal and policy framework and practical guidance.
• It states that reserved contracts** for certain services are a good practice that supports the social economy; and stresses the effectiveness of reserved contracts in supporting the employment of persons with disabilities through public procurement, while noting that there is still room for improvement in their implementation.

*An own-initiative report is a tool used by the European Parliament to request the European Commission (EC) to put forward a legislative proposal on a certain issue. In this case, the European Parliament is already stating its preferences regarding the Public Procurement Directive in order for its input to be considered by the European Commission when drafting the revised text.

** Article 20 of the current Public Procurement Directive states that EU countries can reserve the right to participate in public procurement procedures to sheltered workshops; organisations whose main aim is the social and professional integration of persons with disabilities and disadvantaged persons; and sheltered employment programmes (with at least 30% of employees being disadvantaged workers or workers with a disability).
European Parliament’s Own-initiative opinion on public procurement available here.