EU Soft Law Instruments as a Tool to Tackle the COVID-19 Crisis: Looking at the “Guidance” on Public Procurement Through the Prism of Solidarity

The European Commission has used soft law instruments to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. In so doing, it not only tried to accommodate the emergency within the flexibilities inherent in EU law, but it also assumed, along with national authorities, its own share of responsibility to respond to economic and public health issues. By taking as a case study a Communication on public procurement, it is argued that in the EU the principle of solidarity goes beyond its natural intergovernmental dimension. There emerges from recent soft law instruments a normative value implying in particular the awareness of a common interest and destiny, of a mutual connection and interdependence of peoples, each of whom must be responsible to itself, to future generations and to other peoples.