Zagreb - State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy Goran Romek said in the Croatian Parliament on Tuesday that amendments to the Public Procurement Act will require all procurement above €15,000 to be conducted via the simple procurement module in the Electronic Public Procurement Classifieds (EOJN).
Romek said the change would help curb corruption and boost transparency.
He explained that all public procurement above €25,000 for goods and services and above €45,000 for works must also be conducted through EOJN. "In this way, information on who applied for a tender and who was invited will be available to everyone," he said.
The amendments raise value thresholds for simple procurement from €26,540 to €50,000 for goods and services, and from €66,360 to €100,000 for works.
The changes aim to increase transparency, prevent corruption, ease access to legal remedies, encourage competition and further digitalise and automate procedures. Reducing the administrative burden on staff through digitalisation and automation is highlighted as a key element in strengthening procurement capacity.
Mandatory market analysis is proposed before launching procurement procedures to shorten their duration.
The grounds for mandatory exclusion of economic operators are expanded to include the criminal offence of non-payment of wages in the country where the operator is established, as well as failure to meet due tax, pension and health insurance obligations. However, operators with outstanding liabilities below €1,000 will not be excluded.
Opposition welcomes progress
During the debate, opposition MPs welcomed positive steps such as mandatory EOJN use above €15,000, stronger conflict of interest controls and the social criterion for exclusion due to non-payment of wages, but warned that many scandals over the past decade were linked to public procurement.
Boris Piližota (Social Democratic Party) said higher thresholds for simple procurement could be beneficial only with strong oversight. He noted that Croatia faces not only issues in how contracts are awarded but also in how they are executed, calling for a system to record poor contract performance and a database of companies failing to meet contractual obligations.
Marijana Puljak (Centre) warned that raising thresholds could weaken supervision. "In a country with a long-standing problem of clientelism, any expansion of discretion must be accompanied by stronger accountability mechanisms. If we raise thresholds, we must at the same time increase professionalism and oversight," she said.
Ivica Ledenko (Bridge) said contracting authorities should verify an operator's capacity to perform a contract to ensure procurement security and quality. He also believes companies without collective agreements, or those that fail to respect them, should face restricted or even barred access to public procurement.
Magdalena Komes (ruling Croatian Democratic Union) said the amendments would turn public procurement from an administrative obstacle into an effective development tool. She highlighted greater transparency, clearer rules, digitalised procedures and better control, ensuring each procedure is verifiable and fair.