Proximidad y resiliencia: Viejos y nuevos desafíos para la contratación pública en Italia

The current development model underpinning public procurement regulation is based on open trade. Traditionally, Italy used public procurement to the advantage of its less developed regions and resisted opening its market to EU wide competition. Open trade led to delocalisation of production in countries where costs are lower, including because of weaker workers’rights and laxer social and/or environmental standards. The climate crisis, COVID and the war in Ukraine have all exposed the weaknesses and shortcomings of the procurement model based on open trade. The first requires all efforts to be undertaken to slow global warming. The latter have left many countries exposed to the breakdowns in the global supply chains. Italy was slow in accepting compliance with internal market rules, but rather fast in a more recent time to adopt sustainable procurement rules benefiting the environment and protecting social rights. The issue today is how to achieve resilience without compromising more than necessary free trade and the internal market. Italy has tried a number of measures, but they do not seem to follow a coherent design.