EU Commission proposes new procurement rules: more Europe, less China
The EU Commission has proposed new public procurement rules that would allow authorities to award contracts more on strategic grounds and to exclude third-country companies such as Chinese firms more easily. The proposal is a draft requiring approval by the EU Parliament and member states. In the case of BYD, the Commission's example, exclusion would not be automatic because the buses are manufactured in Hungary by a local subsidiary.
Why it matters: This matters for the briefing's theme of European preference, as the proposal aims to reduce harmful dependencies in public procurement but shows the limits of origin-based exclusion when production occurs inside the EU.