Ahead of the joint Trilogue meeting of 6 May on public procurement and concessions focusing on public-public cooperation, CEEP calls on the co-legislators to get the definition right as this is the major condition for a satisfactory compromise on both legislative proposals.
“The positive recognition of public-public cooperation in the EU secondary law is a major achievement, provided that the Trilogue is able to agree on an adequate EU definition, workable for all authorities and public services operators throughout the EU”, stated Valeria RONZITTI, General Secretary of CEEP.

CEEP has aimed over the last months to be a constructive partner for all actors of the Trilogue, in order to reach the best possible text on both legislative proposals. “We have always provided the co-legislators with a ‘reality test’ of the various compromises floated on public-public cooperation over the last months” said Valeria Ronzitti, adding that “We did so motivated by a pragmatic approach and not by ideology: this is the strength of our contribution to the debates all over the legislative procedure”. It is precisely this reality test that reveals that major risks still remain. Amongst those risks, CEEP particularly warns the co-legislators against the risks that the present definition of horizontal public-public cooperation can entail. “If it stays in its current version, such a definition will counter the efforts of mutualisation of costs by local authorities, meaning the opposite of what the legislator would like to achieve”, concluded Ms Ronzitti. In order to counteract those risks, CEEP is addressing to the Trilogue concrete proposals.

For further information, please contact:
Priya Klinkenberg- tel. +32 (0) 2 229 21 40

CEEP gathers enterprises and organisations from across Europe, both public and private, at national, regional and local level, which are public employers or providers of services of general interest. CEEP members contribute to more than 26% ceepof EU GDP and employ 30% of the EU workforce; CEEP is one of the three general corss-industry European Social Partners.