Expanding the Scope of EU Public Procurement Law: Realigning the Classic Directive with its internal market logic while improving its fit with strategic procurement?

The cornerstone of EU public procurement law – what actually constitutes a ‘public contract’ – is unclear, despite decades of Court of Justice of the European Union case law. This undermines the coherence and effectiveness of EU internal market law. This chapter focuses on the scope of application of Directive 2014/24/EU to highlight some aspects of the interaction between EU public procurement law and other instruments of EU internal market law, including new and proposed tools seeking to (further) leverage public procurement as a policy delivery instrument. After a review of recent trends in the interpretation (and narrowing) of the scope of application of Directive 2014/24/EU, the chapter sketches an alternative functional approach that would provide conceptual consolidation, realign EU public procurement law with its internal market logic and potentially improve its fit as a policy delivery instrument.