Summary of activities in the area of public procurement during the Polish Presidency of the EU Council
The Polish Presidency of the EU Council ended on June 30., 2025. In the area of public procurement, it was an extremely intensive time, marked by important debates, discussions and meetings.
From the perspective of the Public Procurement Office, I note with satisfaction that the Presidency was a time of intensive but also fruitful work, in which special attention was paid to issues important for the future of public procurement. I would like to express my appreciation for the professionalism and determination of the people involved in the course of the Presidency and would also like to thank all the institutional partners for their openness to dialogue and cooperation. We are convinced that the results achieved during this period will constitute a lasting contribution to the development of European purchasing policy. The end of the Presidency is also the beginning of the next stage and the assumption of the presidency of the EU Council by Denmark. I wish our successors all the success and determination in further shaping modern and fair public procurement systems throughout the European Union. – said Ms. Agnieszka Olszewska, the President of the Public Procurement Office when summing up the last 6 months.
Priorities of the Polish Presidency
The programme of the Polish Presidency was set on two priorities in the area of public procurement:
• monitoring and coordinating public procurement provisions, by involving the Working Party on Public Procurement in legislative work on draft EU sectoral legislation that contain provisions directly related to public procurement;
• providing a space for debate on important initiatives on public procurement, especially in the context of industrial policy.
As part of the first priority, continuing the work of previous presidencies, we have identified over 60 sectoral acts already adopted (31 directives and 33 regulations) that contain provisions directly related to procurement, and another 10 such sectoral acts at various stages of the legislative process. At the May meeting of the Working Party on Public Procurement, thanks to the efforts of the Polish Presidency, the first exchange of views between Member States on the procurement provisions contained in the draft regulation on critically important medicinal products (so-called Critical Medicines Act) took place.
When implementing the second priority, we provided space for debate not only at the January and March meetings of the Working Party on Public Procurement, but also – thanks to excellent cooperation with the Ministry of Development and Technology – at High-Level Group meeting in April and the EU Competitiveness Council meeting in May, where an orientation debate on the future of EU public procurement provisions was held.
Important events in Warsaw
During the Polish Presidency, the following events took place in Warsaw:
• a two-day meeting of the EU BIM Public Officers Group on 24-25 April 2025;
• a meeting of the Network of First Instance Review Bodies (NFIRB) on 13 May 2025;
• a meeting of the European Commission's Expert Group on Public Procurement (EXPP) on 11 June 2025;
• the crowning achievement of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council was the international conference titled "The Evolution of EU Public Procurement Rules: From 2014 directives to proliferation of sectoral approaches" in Warsaw on 12 June 2025.
A complete list of key events is presented on the timeline available below.
