SAPIENS Network Research Impact: SAPIENS Researchers Participate in EPLG Seminar on the Reform of the 2014 EU Public Procurement Directives

By Ezgi Uysal

Apr 26, 2025 | Conference, Events, News, Research

SAPIENS Researchers Participate in EPLG Seminar on the Reform of the 2014 EU Public Procurement Directives

On 2–3 April 2025, members of the SAPIENS Network participated in the European Procurement Law Group (EPLG) Seminar held at Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III) and hosted by the Chaire de droit des contrats publics. The seminar focused on the upcoming volume “Future Perspectives for Directive 2014/24/EU: Reform Proposals”, which will be published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

This new book project, co-edited by François Lichère, Kirsi-Maria Halonen, and Willem Janssen, brings together leading scholars in European public procurement law. The volume aims to inform and shape the next potential reforms of the Public Procurement Directive. Each short chapter addresses a specific part or theme of the Directive, highlighting key challenges and offering forward-looking proposals for reform. This novel approach is expected to make a significant impact on how the next generation of procurement rules may evolve.

During the seminar in Lyon, contributors gathered to discuss their draft chapters. From the SAPIENS Network, our Network Coordinator Prof. Roberto Caranta, Lead Researcher Prof. Dacian Dragos, and former Early Stage Researcher Ezgi Uysal were among the invited authors. They presented their contributions to the book, sparking lively and constructive discussions among EPLG members.

Prof. Roberto Caranta presented his chapter focusing on the new external dimension of EU public contracts. His presentation explored the increasing external dimension of EU public procurement law, focusing on several key developments: the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and its emphasis on resilience, the International Procurement Instrument (IPI), and the evolving interpretation of Article 25 of the Public Procurement Directive. 

Prof. Dacian Dragos presented his chapter on the future of exclusion grounds under EU public procurement law. His contribution critically examined the current exclusion mechanisms set out in the Public Procurement Directive, identifying gaps and inconsistencies that hinder their effectiveness across Member States. Key issues discussed included the harmonisation of mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds, the role and limitations of self-cleaning measures, and the need to balance exclusion decisions with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination.

Ezgi Uysal contributed with a chapter focusing on contract termination highlighting the ambiguities surrounding Article 73 of the Public Procurement Directive. Her presentation addressed the challenges stemming from the Directive’s termination rules. However, the Directive’s language only requires Member States to ensure that contracting authorities can terminate contracts, without clearly establishing an obligation to do so. By analysing limited case law and debates in the literature, Uysal’s chapter highlights the current gaps and uncertainties, and suggests a revised version of Article 73 that better balances conflicting interests while aligning with broader procurement goals.

The active participation of SAPIENS researchers in this volume underscores the network’s contribution to shaping the future of European procurement law.

Written by Ezgi Uysal

Ezgi Uysal, a former SAPIENS Early Stage Researcher, defended her thesis titled Enforcing Sustainability in Contract Performance under the Public Sector Directive in December 2024 at the University of Turin, Faculty of Law. Her doctoral research examined how sustainability obligations embedded in public procurement contracts can be effectively enforced during the performance phase, contributing to the broader discourse on sustainable public procurement, contract compliance, and the role of contracting authorities. She is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. Her research is part of the project Purchase Power – Sustainable Public Procurement through Private Law Enforcement (PurpLE), which is financed by the Carlsberg Foundation. Through this project, she continues to explore enforcement mechanisms for sustainability commitments in public contracts from a private law perspective. Her publications include: – “Enforcing Sustainability Clauses in Public Contracts: Third-party Enforcement Caught between the Privity of Contract and Conflicting Interests” in Public Procurement and Contract Law: Exploring Overlaps, Defining Boundaries (Hart, forthcoming, with Katerina Mitkidis) – “To Terminate or Not to Terminate” in Future Perspectives for Directive 2014/24/EU: Reform Proposals (Edward Elgar, forthcoming) – “Mandatory Green Public Procurement Criteria: Comparative Insights from Italian and Norwegian Law to Address European Challenges” Nordic Journal of European Law (forthcoming) – “Concept of being ‘linked to the subject matter of the contract’” in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of EU Public Procurement Law (Edward Elgar, forthcoming) – “Sustainability Clauses in ‘Public’ Contracts” (2024) European Review of Contract Law 105–127 – Contract Compliance for Sustainable Public Procurement: To Monitor or Not to Monitor, SAPIENS Working Paper (April 2024) – “Bridging the Gap between Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and EU Public Procurement” (2023) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 30(5) 554–572 (with Laura Treviño-Lozano) – “The European Green Deal and Public Procurement Law” in Deploying the European Green Deal (Routledge 2023) 177–194 (with Willem A. Janssen) – “The Requirement to Obtain Consent from the Relevant Authorities Constitutes a Contract Performance Condition: Annotation on CJEU Case C-295/20 Sanresa” (2022) European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review (EPPPL) 17(2) 127–130 – “Business and Human Rights: The State as a Buyer” (2021) EPPPL 16(1) 52–64

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