The announcement of the Readiness program for European defense – The Greek regulatory framework on public procurement

The European Commission is committed to creating a more transparent, open, and effective procurement process in the defense and security sectors, with the parallel objective of strengthening, the European defense equipment market (EDEM) and the European defense industry in the long term, and to ensure a better allocation of resources. The European Commission’s most recent steps in this direction have been the White Paper on European Defense — Readiness by 2030 and the ReArm Europe / Readiness 2030 plan, which was announced this year and enables the spending of more than €800 billion on European defense for the next four years.

As far as Greece in particular is concerned, which is located in a special geostrategic position and therefore spends a considerable amount on procuring military and non-military equipment, defense- and security-related public contracts are regulated by Law 3978/2011, which incorportes European Directive 2009/81/EC. This law establishes a specific regulatory framework for defense- and security-related public contracts, which differs from the general rules applicable to public procurement under Law 4412/ 2016. The scope of the special Law 3978/2011 covers public contracts for the supply of military equipment, the supply of sensitive equipment, works, supplies, and services directly related to military and sensitive equipment or related to specific military purposes, and finally, it also applies to the needs of non-military security, public security, and state security.

The special status of defense- and security-related public contracts is explained by the need for increased transparency and confidentiality due to the nature of these contracts.