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Question for written answer E-003420/2020 to the Commission Rule 138 Elena Kountoura (GUE/NGL), Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL), Konstantinos Arvanitis (GUE/NGL), Alexis Georgoulis (GUE/NGL), Petros Kokkalis (GUE/NGL) Subject: Direct award of an EOT (Greek National Tourism Organisation) tourism promotion project to the private company, Marketing Greece Pursuant to Article 69 of the Greek Government Order of 13 April 2020 1 , part or all of a Hellenic Tourism Organisation project may be directly awarded to Marketing GREECE, by way of derogation from Law No. 4412/2016 on public works, supplies and service contracts, incorporating Directives 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU. Specifically, the provision stipulates that, until 31 August, the Ministry of Tourism, the EOT and Local Government Organisations may conclude procurement and service contracts, for the purpose of awarding Greek tourism promotion actions, with the company ‘Marketing Greece’ by direct award, regardless of the value of the contract, by way of derogation from national and European public procurement legislation. It is also emphasised that this provision does not apply to any company other than ‘Marketing Greece’, thereby creating unfair competition. At the same time, the object of the award is a project that falls within the remit of the EOT (national body for the promotion of tourism), which has performed successfully over the last few years. In view of the above, will the Commission say: 1. Does it share the view of the the Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority that this provision is incompatible with European public contract law 2 ? 2. Given that EU resources are available for the implementation of these programmes, how will it ensure that European resources are not spent in violation of European law? 1 ‘Measures to address the continuing consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and other urgent provisions’ (A 84), which was ratified by Law 4690/2020 (A 104). 2 Opinion of the Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority 16/2020 of 29 April 2020 PE653.669v01-00.

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