Time for Public Procurement rules that promote quality jobs

Time for Public Procurement rules that promote quality jobs

Sep 15, 2025| Featured, Press release, Tourism

Last week the European Parliament adopted the INI report on public procurement. The report calls on the European Commission to revise current EU rules to address their shortcomings.

The current framework presents several challenges:

• The frequent use of the lowest price criterion, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, undermines quality, sustainability, and social standards.
• Social conditionality is not sufficiently guaranteed.
• Long subcontracting chains weaken accountability, increase risks of labour law violations, and hinder effective enforcement.

We welcome the Parliament's call for a shift towards strategic public procurement is welcome. This includes moving beyond a purely cost-based approach to one that integrates resilience, social value, and environmental value, with attention to collective bargaining and fundamental labour rights.

In view of the upcoming revision of the EU public procurement rules EFFAT insists on the strategic role of the contract catering sector to create growth and quality jobs but also as a leverage to promote sustainability across the whole food value chain.

In the food sector, the report highlights the need to strengthen sustainability and climate-related criteria to support EU farmers and promote healthier food policies. Publicly procured food, for example in schools, hospitals and public administration, should be sustainable, of high quality, and produced in conditions that respect workers' rights.

Nevertheless, the report stops short of recommending specific award criteria to incentivise companies that create quality jobs and apply collective agreements. Nor does it provide concrete measures to limit subcontracting chains or introduce liability regimes. It also remains important that future simplification of rules does not come at the expense of strong social safeguards protecting workers.

EFFAT Tourism Political Secretary Virginie Demoucron commented on the report and said:
We recognise this as a step forward, but we warn that binding social conditionality must be the guiding principle of the upcoming revision. Only then can we ensure that public money stops fuelling a race to the bottom once and for all. Moroever we must ensure the abandonement of the lowest price principle and that economic operators respecting workers rights, respecting collective bargaining and serving food produced in a socially sustainable manner get priority in public contracts. Finally it must be clear that any improvement to the Directives must also apply for the contract catering sector for which a lighter regime currently applies.

EFFAT, along with the European Trade Unions movement, will continue to advocate for public procurement rules that prioritise operators bound by collective agreements ensuring decent working conditions in catering, while fostering food production that is both socially and environmentally sustainable.

EFFAT position.