Policy-Varianz durch Europäisierung? Zur Wettbewerbs- und Vergabepolitik der deutschen Länder.

The notable variance in the public procurement law of the German Länder is irritating, in particular when taking into account that a judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2008 was considered to level hitherto existing legal differences. However, instead of convergence divergence took place. The study explores 48 public procurement regulations of the German Länder between 1999 and 2017 and the conditions of the decision-making. Party difference is neither necessary nor sufficient for the introduction of procurement laws with labour clauses. Left governments in combination with a Land with a rather high wage level or in combination with facing neoliberal judicial Europeanisation were willing to establish labour clauses in public procurement. Against all expectations, the ECJ’S judgement resulted in the rise of social public procurement. The counter-policy on the sub-national level has been triggered by media awareness for the policy and the judgements, by mobilisation of the trade unions, and by the strategy of the Social Democratic Party for implementing a statutory minimum wage on the sub-national level as no national minimum had been established before.