Public procurement, the Commission proposes a single regulation with European preference

The European Commission published on 9 September 2026 the legislative proposal COM(2026) 590, called the Public Procurement Act (European Commission, DG GROW). The text repeals three directives from 2014: Directive 2014/23/EU on concessions, Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement and Directive 2014/25/EU on special sectors.

The change in legal instrument is the part that draws least attention and matters most: three directives are being replaced by a single regulation (ANSA). The available excerpts do not describe the effects of this shift on national legal systems, and on this point the piece does not go beyond what emerges from the proposal.

What it contains

According to ANSA’s account, the single regulation introduces a European digital platform for procedures and expands the scope for negotiation between administrations and operators (ANSA).

The Commission estimates administrative savings of about 650 million euros a year, on a market worth 15 percent of the European Union’s gross domestic product, according to figures reported by the same agency. These are estimates from the institution proposing the act, and thus a partial assessment in favour of its own initiative: no independent verification appears in the available excerpts.

The political flashpoint: European preference

The element most likely to generate friction is the European preference framework. According to ANSA, it allows access to tenders to be restricted for operators and products from third countries in three cases: economic security reasons, strategic dependencies, and lack of reciprocity in market openness.

Put in practical terms: European public spending becomes a tool of trade policy. It is the same terrain on which, on the other side of the Atlantic, the measures we wrote about in this morning’s opening piece on tariffs between the United States and Canada are being played out — with the difference that here it is not imports that are taxed, but who may compete for a public contract that is selected.

A second, much narrower measure

On the same day the Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1975, dated 8 September 2026, authorising a derogation for the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases in certain equipment used for drying compressed air. The legal basis is Article 11(5) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 of 7 February 2024 (Certifico). The story currently comes from a single source — the Official Journal of the European Union as reported by Certifico — and no independent pickups have been found: as it is a published act, the source is primary.

What we don’t know

We do not know the timetable for the process: the excerpts do not indicate examination dates or the position of national governments. We do not know how the text defines “strategic dependency” nor what value thresholds trigger the preference mechanism: the detailed articles do not appear in the available excerpts, which only include the proposal’s factsheet and the journalistic summary.

Finally, we do not know how the regulation would be coordinated with national rules already in force. The figure to keep in mind is the scope: 15 percent of the European Union’s gross domestic product is the share of the economy that the proposal intends to govern with a single European rule.

Sources: European Commission (DG GROW), ANSA, Certifico citing the Official Journal of the European Union.