Austria signs ‘Made in Europe’ declaration to boost public procurement

The Austrian government and several state-owned enterprises have signed the ‘Made in Europe’ declaration. This initiative aims to prioritize European value creation in public procurement and investments to strengthen domestic industry, secure jobs, and reduce strategic dependencies on external actors like China.

In Austria alone, annual public procurement reaches approximately 67 billion euros. A significant portion of this volume is managed by state-owned enterprises. The strategy intends to move beyond focusing solely on purchase price, instead incorporating quality, innovation, life-cycle costs, and supply security into the decision-making process.

A study by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) highlights that while the initiative can drive growth and employment, there is a potential conflict between rules that guarantee new factory construction within the EU and those that maximize broader economic growth and job creation. The effectiveness of the policy depends heavily on how ‘European’ origin is defined regarding value-added shares in strategic sectors such as automotive, electronics, and chemicals.