Works Contracts inside the European Union

The Treaty on European Union (often referred to as the Maastricht Treaty) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, both amended in 1997, 2001 and 2003, emphasize the need to create an area without internal borders, with the aim of achieving an internal market characterized by the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. Against this backdrop, the Community's institutions (European Parliament, Council and Commission) have always considered the opening up of public procurement to the Community dimension to be an essential element in achieving a genuine internal market.

The aim of European public procurement is to establish fair and open competition, enabling contractors to take full advantage of the single market and contracting authorities to choose freely from a wider range of more competitive offers.

A European Union-wide legislative framework for public procurement has now been put in place. The aim of this article is to provide readers with the clarification they need to understand this often complex subject, both for specialists and for users of the law.