Public procurement as a stronger leverage for social justice

Nicolas Gabayet

Chapter 13 in Reforming EU Public Procurement, 2026, pp 186-202 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter critically examines the EU's public procurement framework in light of its potential to promote social justice, arguing that Directive 2014/24/EU fails to provide contracting authorities with sufficiently robust legal tools to operationalise social inclusion. The chapter proposes targeted reforms to strengthen Article 18(2), introduce social inclusion as a core procurement principle, mandate exclusion for breaches of social and labour law, and replace the restrictive ‘link to the subject-matter’ test with a broader ‘life-cycle’ approach. Through this analysis, it contends that the current enabling model under EU law could evolve into a more binding framework if public procurement is to function as a credible lever for social transformation.

Keywords: Social inclusion; Award criteria; Public procurement principles; Exclusion grounds; Performance conditions; Reserved contracts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035368266
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