Six months before the European elections, which will take place in June, True or False examines the more or less well-founded beliefs surrounding the European Union. The True or False Cell sought to answer this question: does European law prevent the creation of organic and local canteens?
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This is a criticism already heard on the left: European competition rules would be so restrictive that they would lead to aberrant situations such as preventing young French schoolchildren from eating organic and local food in the canteen.
Public procurement rules…
There are many rules that apply to French canteens, these are the rules of the public procurement mechanism. A community that wishes to place an order to purchase products for its canteen is subject, like any public body, to the principles of public procurement: freedom of access to public procurement, equal treatment of candidates and transparency of procedures.
As such, it is effectively prohibited from imposing a geographical criterion: this is the principle of non-discrimination of candidates, a principle guaranteed by French law and European texts. Clearly, we cannot prefer a French market gardener to a Spanish market gardener.
…that can be circumvented
However, communities have a way to get around this rule. In their call for tenders, they can include specific clauses. For example, they can indicate that they wish to purchase Label Rouge for meat, or specify that they want products that respect seasonality. These very specific conditions, in fact, indeed favor local production. Moreover, for almost two years, the Egalim law has required canteens to serve at least 20% organic and 50% quality and sustainable products, that is to say products that have a label. The government has also published a guide for communities to help them properly draft the clauses of their call for tenders.
