European Parliament resolution on public procurement: a roadmap for the reform of the 2014 directives
Analysis of European Parliament Resolution P10_TA(2025)0174, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 April 2026. The institutional position on the reform of Directives 2014/23, 2014/24 and 2014/25.
On 9 September 2025 the European Parliament adopted Resolution P10_TA(2025)0174 on public procurement, an own-initiative report approved by 432 votes to 95, with 124 abstentions. The text was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 April 2026 (OJ C/2026/1470). The document sets out Parliament's position on the reform of the three 2014 directives that the European Commission plans to put forward during the second quarter of 2026 under the name of the European Public Procurement Act.
Identification of the text
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official title | European Parliament resolution of 9 September 2025 on public procurement |
| Reference | P10_TA(2025)0174 |
| Procedure file | 2024/2103(INI), own-initiative report |
| Committee responsible | IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) |
| Rapporteur | Piotr Müller (ECR, Poland) |
| Committees for opinion | INTA (Caspary, EPP) and EMPL (Van Sparrentak, Greens/EFA) |
| Vote | 432 in favour, 95 against, 124 abstentions |
| Publication in the Official Journal | Series C, number 1470, of 9 April 2026 |
| CELEX identifier | 52025IP0174 |
Context and timetable
The body of legislation at which the reform is aimed consists of three directives adopted in 2014:
- Directive 2014/23/EU, on the award of concession contracts.
- Directive 2014/24/EU, on classic public procurement.
- Directive 2014/25/EU, on the special sectors (water, energy, transport and postal services).
The Commission presented its evaluation of the horizontal directives in October 2025 and kept the public consultation open until the end of January 2026. The formal legislative proposal for the European Public Procurement Act is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026, in accordance with the Commission Work Programme for that year.
Diagnosis of the system in force
The resolution starts from a diagnosis grounded in specific figures:
Alongside those figures come the following critical elements:
- The EU thresholds have remained practically unchanged since 1994 and lose real value through inflation (Recital G).
- In certain Member States, award on lowest price reaches as much as 95 % of cases (Recital Z).
- The body of rules in force comprises 476 articles and 907 pages, which hampers its practical application (paragraph 6).
- SME participation in cross-border public procurement remains marginal, with disproportionate bureaucratic burdens (paragraph 77).
The five blocks of the operative part
The operative part of the resolution is arranged in ninety-three paragraphs, grouped into the following five blocks:
- Strategic objectives (paragraphs 1 to 13): public procurement conceived as an instrument of economic policy, the strategic autonomy of the Union and European preference in specific sectors, always on terms compatible with the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.
- Main challenges (paragraphs 14 to 21): simplification, transparency, negotiated procedures without publication and the updating of thresholds.
- Areas for improvement (paragraphs 22 to 27): review of thresholds, rectification of minor formal defects and digitalisation.
- Digital transformation (paragraphs 28 to 35): a digital-first approach, a European Data Space and a digital passport for SMEs.
- Specific recommendations (paragraphs 36 to 92): most economically advantageous tender versus lowest price, exclusion grounds, sustainability, innovation, concessions, subcontracting and social clauses.
Core messages
From lowest price to best price-quality ratio
Paragraph 38 is the backbone of the text. It questions the use of price as the dominant award criterion and argues that a greater number of contracts should be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender, giving substantial weight to factors such as quality, regional impact or continuity of supply, "especially for engineering services".
Regulatory simplification without giving up the principles
Paragraph 6 calls for a significant reduction in the volume of legislation while preserving the strictly procedural character of the directives: "specifying how to buy rather than what to buy". Paragraph 10 recalls that the three guiding principles of public procurement, namely value for money, fair competition and measures against corruption, remain beyond question.
Public-public cooperation as a strengthened option
Paragraph 62 proposes a review of the current definition of public-public cooperation and calls for "consideration to be given to the possibility of excluding cooperation between public entities from the scope of the public procurement directives, where its purpose is the efficient performance of tasks, without further restrictive conditions".
Access for small and medium-sized enterprises
- A mandatory SME impact test for every new rule (paragraph 77).
- A 25 % reduction in the general administrative burden and a 35 % reduction specifically for SMEs (paragraph 53).
- Systematic division into smaller lots, especially in engineering, construction and planning services (paragraph 79).
Digitalisation
Adoption of a digital-first approach with a move "from an outdated notice-based system to a transaction-based system" (paragraph 29), together with the creation of a European Public Procurement Data Space and the possible introduction of a digital passport for SMEs (paragraph 30).
Further developments
The resolution addresses a set of matters in enough depth to warrant separate analysis. The next articles in this series will deal specifically with:
- The commitment to the most economically advantageous tender over the lowest price criterion and its implications for engineering services.
- Regulatory simplification and the review of the rules on public-public cooperation.
- Market access for SMEs, division into lots, innovation and the digitalisation of the procedure.
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