DG REGIO’s Peer2Peer Expert Communities return to work after the summer break

After two months of conceptual work during the summer break, the Peer2Peer (P2P) communities, coordinated by the European Commission are resuming their activities. PWC is coordinating this initiative.

On 2 September, an on-line meeting of the Public Procurement group was held with the participation of CEUTP expert and about 30 representatives of institutions from other EU Member States involved in the management and control process within EU projects.

The meeting began with the introduction of key participants, including representatives of DG REGIO, PwC and Community Champions, i.e. the leaders of the group, who present issues selected by themselves and the participants, thereby setting the tone for the group’s work.

The role of Community Champions in the group is performed by:

– representative of the CEUTP (Control and Audit Department) – Przemysław Ostrowski;

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

– representative of the Minstry of Transport and Communication from Bulgaria – Yasen Markov;

– representative of Audit Authority in Croatia (ARPA) – Antonija Ćurić

Mr Przemysław Ostrowski (CEUTP) was the first to speak. He raised the topic of the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of public procurement (C-282/24 Polismyndigheten and C-452/23 Fastned Deutchland, which concerned the concession system) and additionally indicated which documents on public procurement that have recently been published online may be useful in the work of people dealing with this topic (the OECD report on the green procurement in France and the annual report on the work of the Complaints Borad for Public Procurment in Denmark, responsible for considering appeals in the Danish public procurement system).

Afterwards he presented information on how the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in cases C-652/22 Kolin and C-266/22 Qingdao Sifang influence on public procurement practice in Poland (including the recently announced public procurement procedure for the design and execution of works for the project entitled „Works on the Warsaw cross-city line on the Warszawa Wschodnia – Warszawa Zachodnia section, stage IIa”, in which according to the terms of reference’s rules a participation of the contractors from „third countries” is not allowed) and on Polish legislation, i.e the amendment to the Polish Public Procurement Law aproved by the Polish Parliament on 9 July 2025 (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2014, item 1320, as amended) – the Act amending the Public Procurement Law and the Act on Concession Agreement for Contruction Works Services), which will come into force on 9 September 2025.

The lat part of this meeting was presentation held by Ms Antonija Ćurić (Audit Authority from Croatia), who focused on a list of questions and answers publishe by the European Commission on the participation of contractors from „third countries“ in the EU public procurment system and how the judgment of the CJEU in cases C-652/22 Kolin and C-266/22 Qingdao Sifang influenced on practice of awarding public contracts in Croatia.

This event proved once again that Peer2Peer provides an interactive, needed and rapidly growing platform for the exchnge of knowledge and experience between public administration employees in th EU.

This meeting was attended by new members who had not previously participated in its work, which further confirm its development potential, including questions raised during the meeting regarding various aspects of public procurment (not only an issue of participation of contractors from „third counttries“).

Community meeting will continue, particulry given the vaule of exchanging information on public procurement case law in order to stay up to date and enhance knowledge and expertise.

Further meetings will be held soon within other DG REGIO P2P experts groups, including in the areas od DNSH (“do no significant harm” principle) and public participation.