On 14 October, we co-organised, together with the office of MEP Stefano Cavedagna, a high-level discussion at the European Parliament on Public hashtag#Procurement — a key lever for competitiveness and the efficient delivery of public services across the EU, ahead of the upcoming revision of the procurement directives in 2026.
A warm thank you to the speakers from the European Parliament. MEP Stefano Cavedagna underlined the need to rebalance in-house awards with hashtag#competitive tenders to protect citizens’ interests and stimulate innovation, while MEP Piotr Müller (ECR, Poland), Rapporteur for the Parliament’s Own-Initiative Report on Public Procurement, stressed simplification, hashtag#transparency through digitalisation and AI, and more space for innovative and risk-taking approaches. MEP Salvatore De Meo (EPP, Italy) added that the professionalisation of contracting authorities is crucial, while warning against excessive administrative burdens that could weaken competitiveness.
Our thanks also to Henning Ehrenstein, Head of Unit D.2 (Public Procurement) at DG GROW, who presented the European Commission’s perspective on making procurement an effective investment tool through simpler, more coherent rules and stronger transparency and data. He also pointed to the need to support “Made in Europe” where appropriate and to align procurement with strategic objectives — from innovation and digitalisation to green and social priorities.
We are particularly grateful to Giacomo Zucchelli (A2A), Alberto Dorrego (CCIES Cámara de Concesionarios de Infraestructuras, Equipamientos y Servicios Públicos), Jan Rempala (BusinessEurope), Alessandro Fiocco (Terna SpA), Gianfranco Previtera (AlmavivA Group), Jasper de Jong (AVR), Stefano Terzaghi (Confindustria), Alejandro Jiménez (AGBAR – Veolia Group) and Elisabetta Glorioso (Enel Group) for their valuable contributions, which brought a concrete business perspective to the policy debate.
The discussion highlighted the need for greater transparency and EU-wide monitoring, keeping in-house awards as the exception through market consultations and efficiency checks, while focusing on quality-based evaluation, fair non-price criteria and flexible, well-managed concessions.
As MUST & Partners, we’ll continue fostering evidence-based, multi-stakeholder dialogue so that the forthcoming reform delivers an open, innovation-friendly and predictable EU procurement framework that strengthens Europe’s long-term competitiveness and public value.
