PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AS A MEANS OF LEGAL REGULATION OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS BASED ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT TRENDS IN EU POLICY AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF THEIR CONSIDERATION IN NATIONAL LAW-MAKING

Abstract

The ideology of sustainable development, as the foundation of the EU’s green transition policy, is becoming a driver of contemporary legal transformations and changes in economic development strategies. It is evident that achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals solely by relying on rationalism and the individual awareness of economic operators regarding the importance of complying with environmental, climate, social and other standards is hardly realistic under the existing legal model of the economy, especially at a time when protectionist measures have long exceeded the permissible limits established by international law. Under such conditions, EU law is witnessing a modification of established legal institutions aimed at directing their potential towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals while simultaneously creating reasonable safeguards against unfair trade practices by third countries.
The implementation of these political and legal imperatives is supported by the institution of public procurement, which has already demonstrated its high effectiveness in achieving the EU’s “horizontal” policy objectives, primarily in promoting the circular economy, decarbonisation, and the development of clean technologies. At the same time, EU secondary legislation is evolving towards expanding the functions of public procurement and introducing mandatory minimum environmental sustainability requirements for certain categories of goods, works and services subject to public procurement.
Comparative legal analysis shows that, in contrast to the above approaches embodied in EU law, national legislation in the field of public procurement demonstrates a significant lag behind the pace of development of European legal
thought and a slow implementation of legal reforms.
In this regard, it is emphasised that both existing approaches and planned changes in the EU public procurement legal framework should be taken into account when adapting national legislation to EU law in the field of public procurement. This would enable both an increase in the share and the establishment of mandatory minimum requirements concerning non-price criteria, understood as sustainable development criteria, with a strengthened focus on environmental criteria, which are inherently linked to social impacts.