Favoring European contracts in the awarding of public contracts is one of the wishes of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. He also mentions less strict standards in Europe.
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China was in the crosshairs of the meeting organized, Monday April 8, in Paris, by Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, with his German and Italian counterparts. The idea of putting more and more Europe into the contracts of our large companies is not new and the situation has not improved. The trade deficit between China and Europe has tripled in ten years, from 100 to 300 billion euros. The objective is therefore to once again insist on the importance of reserving public contracts for products “made in Europe” or, at least, having European content in calls for tenders (up to 40, 50 or 60 %), or even impose important quality or environmental criteria on foreign products in public procurement.
Divergent European opinions
Among the major European partners, the opinion is not unanimous. Hence the meeting organized on Monday in Paris to try to reach an agreement at least with the two other major industrial countries of the old continent, Germany and Italy. The most reluctant being Germany. In Berlin’s eyes, imposing too much “made in Europe” in international public procurement would amount to shooting us in the foot. Germany fears retaliatory measures on its own products because China is its largest trading partner.
This attitude is not new on the part of Germany, except today, and Bruno Le Maire insists on this point, in certain economic areas such as photovoltaic panels, electric cars or batteries , Europe has become a simple catch-up economy. We are not proactive.
Hunting for standards
Among the solutions mentioned by our Minister of the Economy are simpler rules at European level, and above all less strict standards. These standards now represent a real market for specialized companies and firms. They harm European companies by making them less competitive with the Chinese and Americans and make our products more expensive on the international scene.
During their trilateral meeting, Paris, Berlin and Rome issued a very formal communiqué in which they committed to pursuing European standards. Nothing, at least at this stage, that pushes Europe to really show its teeth. Next step next week with an extraordinary European Council bringing together the 27 member states.