International online meeting of the Peer2Peer community

On Wednesday 13 November, an online meeting of the group “Public Procurement”, which operates within the framework of the Peer2Peer Communities initiative of DG REGIO. The event was attended by an expert from the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP) and around 20 representatives of institutions from other EU Member States involved in the management and control process of EU projects. PwC has been coordinating this initiative since May 2024.

The meeting started with presentations from key participants, including representatives from DG REGIO, PwC and Community Champions – the group leaders giving direction to the work.

Community Champions in the ‘Public Procurement’ group are:

– Przemyslaw Ostrowski – representative of CEUTP (Control and Audit Department),

– Kristina Vasileva – representative of the Public Procurement Agency from Bulgaria (Directorate of Legislation and Methodology),

– Yasen Markov – representative of the Audit Institution from Bulgaria.

The first speaker was Justyna Balasinska (DG REGIO), who announced the launch of a comprehensive evaluation of the public procurement directives. The European Commission encouraged participants in the public procurement market to actively participate in the public consultation in this area.

Przemysław Ostrowski (CEUTP) then presented the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on public procurement (Cases C-424/23 DYKA Plastic and C-652/22 Kolin Inşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret AȘ). He also discussed financial corrections in the areas of subcontracting and modification of contracts concluded under public procurement. He used examples from Poland and Italy, illustrating how national procurement systems have evolved in these areas.

Another paper was given by Yasen Markov, who discussed the CJEU judgment in Joined Cases C-441/22 and C-443/22 (*Obshtina Razgrad*). The ruling concerned, inter alia, the obligation of contracting authorities to take into account the risk of exceeding the contract completion date due to foreseeable obstacles, such as weather conditions. The presentation also raised the issue of the written nature of contract modifications – it was pointed out that modifications can result not only from formal agreements, but also from other written documents.

The meeting concluded with an online survey in which participants identified topics to be discussed at future Peer2Peer network events. The event once again demonstrated that Peer2Peer is a dynamic and necessary platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience between representatives of public administrations in the EU. Of particular interest was the latest CJEU case law on the rights of third-country contractors, which confirmed the need to continue the group’s work.