Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-12-Speech-1-105"
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"en.20051212.16.1-105"2
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".
Mr President, the rapporteur, Mrs Fourtou, and her fellow members of the Committee on Petitions have worked very hard on this report, an initiative from this House in response to thousands of petitions received by the committee. I would like to thank all those involved for their work and valuable contributions to this difficult and delicate debate. This is indeed of concern to many EU citizens, as shown by the number of petitions received.
Two fact-finding missions were sent to Valencia, which gave the committee members an opportunity to meet with representatives of all those concerned and to have a first-hand experience of the situation on the ground. You know better than anyone else the issues at stake.
Mrs Fourtou’s report touches upon a number of important topics which have attracted the political attention of this House. The Commission, within the limits of its competences, has looked into this matter mainly from an internal market perspective. In concrete terms we have analysed the public procurement dimension of the Spanish law. I shall concentrate on that.
The Commission takes the view that the approval of integrated action programmes under the Valencia Land Planning Law involves the award of public work and service contracts. Early in this process the Commission considered that the Valencia Land Planning Law raised questions with respect to EU public procurement legislation. Contracts were awarded without transparency or publication of notices in the EU Official Journal. There were no objective selection or award criteria, no appropriate price clauses, and no equality of opportunity for all those interested in the business opportunity. The Commission therefore decided to launch infringement proceedings against Spain on this issue and sent a letter of formal notice on 21 March 2005.
Since then, we have been working together with the relevant authorities to correct the defects that were detected with the application of the existing law. However, the draft new law that was submitted to my services does not correct all problems identified. In addition, the practical situation has not changed. Public authorities continue to award public contracts without following appropriate tendering procedures. In view of this lack of progress, in a few days I plan to send a letter to the competent authorities in Spain asking them to take appropriate measures to remedy the situation.
Reconciling planning requirements and procurement laws can be highly complex. However, this must not be an excuse for not applying the EU procurement rules. These rules bring benefits for public authorities, by increasing competition for public contracts and lowering the price of works, supplies and services. Therefore, you can count on my commitment to ensure that EU public procurement rules are respected, both in the letter and the practice, of whatever legislation is approved in the future.
Mrs Fourtou’s report also raised a number of other issues of concern, but as they fall outside the scope of Community competence, the Commission is not in a position to address them."@en1
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