Forslaget til det nye udbudsdirektivs (KOM(2011) 896 endelig) strategiske anvendelse af EU-udbudsret til opnåelse af Europa 2020-Strategiens miljø-målsætninger

Abstract

Over the past 100 years, the average temperature in Europe has risen by one degree Celsius. This climate change has entailed extreme weather conditions as well as social and economic issues that have forced the EU to approach these problems via climate politics. The Europe 2020-Strategy is a part of the EU’s climate politics; it contains five goals that are to combat these climate changes. Public procurement is one of the tools to achieve the goals of The Europe 2020-Stratgy. Due to the increased environmental focus in public procurement, The European Commission has presented a proposal for a new public procurement directive, which is intended to ensure the environmental goals of The Europe 2020-Strategy. In this thesis, a comparison will be made between the current public procurement directive and the proposal for the new public procurement directive. This comparison will be conducted by using case law on the public procurement directive. Through this analysis, it is possible to explicate that the proposal for the new public procure directive does not contain any significant changes in comparison to the current public procurement directive. Furthermore, the proposal presents no change in the possibility of using environmental criteria in public procurement. The principal of equal treatment is the most important principal in the public procurement directive - any criteria must adhere to the rules of the principal of equal treatment. This interpretation of the principal is also present in the proposal of the new public procurement directive and complicates the use of environmental criteria. An economic analysis of idea behind the public procurement directive reveals that the competitive element of public procurement is the most central factor. The proposal for the new public procurement directive can only adhere to its environmental objectives, and be deemed efficient, provided that the contracting authority has incitement to use environmental criteria. An economic analysis shows that the contracting authority is not provided this incitement with the proposal. The proposal cannot be deemed suitable for achieving the objectives for The Europe 2020-Strategy, since the proposal does not entail any actual obligations, towards the contracting authority, in regards to adhering to the environmental criteria. However, the proposal could be viewed as an EU strategy through which greater focus is, in time, put on environmental considerations within all aspects of the EU legislation. Over time, the proposal could have an impact on environmental concerns, since these are being embedded into an increasing amount of aspects of the overall EU collaboration. The long term effect of proposals, like the new public procurement directive, is bound to be a positive one, for the environment. From an economic point of view, as the proposal does not have an immediate impact, as demanded by The Europe-2020 Strategy - the proposal can only be considered as a waste of EU resources.