For almost a decade, little has changed, but now things should suddenly happen very quickly.

As early as this Thursday, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers want to start negotiations on a new EU law that is intended to make it more difficult for Chinese companies in particular to access public tenders in the European Union.

The European Parliament only set its position on Tuesday evening.

The French government, which will take over the EU Council Presidency in January, does not want to waste any time.

The new law should be in early March.

The French President Emmanuel Macron wants to score points in the election campaign for another term - and the elections are in April.

Hendrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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With the law, the EU wants to achieve two things. It wants to protect European companies when awarding public contracts - be it the construction of roads or the purchase of materials - from companies from third countries undercutting them with dumping prices. This is primarily aimed at Chinese companies. According to the Federal Association of Industry (BDI), they often offer their services around a quarter below those of their European competition. Even discounts of up to 60 percent are not uncommon, it is said in Brussels. Companies from third countries can be excluded from tenders by law. Alternatively, your offers can be given a markup in order to put them in a worse position than the competition.

But it's not just about fair competition within the EU. The real main aim of the law is to put pressure on all those third countries that seal off their procurement markets differently from the European Union itself, and thus force them to open up to European companies. The new rules should only apply to these countries. The MP Daniel Caspary (CDU), who is responsible in the European Parliament, describes the law as a “door opener” for European companies in the world, from China to Russia to the United States. In the end, however, it's all about China again. The USA, for example, is not affected despite all the “Buy American” rules because it has signed the international agreements for open procurement markets differently from China.

The European Commission proposed the law, which is usually just called IPI after its English abbreviation, back in 2012, almost ten years ago. For years, however, the member states could not agree on the introduction. They only set their position on this in June of this year. Last but not least, the federal government had blocked itself for many years. She had argued that the IPI was more of a means of sealing off one's own markets and thus promoting protectionism. The northern European states had positioned themselves similarly. Recently, however, the ongoing complaints about unfair competitive conditions in trade with China have also led to a rethink in Berlin.

For political reasons, the EU now classifies China as a “systemic rival” and no longer solely as a normal economic partner and competitor. The new EU law joins a whole series of new instruments with which the European Union has responded.

In order for the EU law on public tenders to come into force, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers must agree on a common position. The differences between them are not insurmountable, but could make reaching an agreement difficult by March. For example, the states foresee price surcharges of up to 40 percent for offers for companies from countries with isolated procurement markets. Only in extreme cases should they be completely excluded. In addition, the states should be able to make exceptions to this, for example if there is otherwise a threat of strong cost increases. The European Parliament is stricter. The European Commission should decide whether to exclude companies completely from tenders or to add surcharges of up to 100 percent to their offers.Exceptions should only be possible if all bidders come from third countries that seal off their markets or for reasons of public interest such as health protection or environmental protection.