Public procurement accounts for 15% of the European Union's GDP.

Omissions

• The exact share varies slightly across official Commission publications: the DG GROW public procurement landing page cites 'around 14% of EU GDP' in one place and 'around 16% of GDP (around €2.5 trillion per year)' in another, while the 2025 evaluation and the Single Market Scoreboard both use 'around 15%'. The 15% figure is therefore a mid-range official estimate, not a precise measurement.
• Some independent assessments (e.g. OECD 2025 Economic Survey of the EU, citing the European Court of Auditors) use the lower estimate of '14% of EU GDP'. The speaker's use of '15%' is at the upper end of the officially published range (14–16%), which could be seen as choosing the more favourable figure, though it remains within the official Commission range.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Commission – DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu)Public authorities in the EU spend around 15% of GDP a year on procurement – in sectors such as energy, transport, healthcare, and education. EU procurement rules apply to as much as a quarter of this expenditure, with an average annual value of €616 billion, 3 times the size of the EU budget.
• PrimaryEuropean Commission – Single Market and Competitiveness Scoreboard (Access to public procurement)Public procurement accounts for about 15% of the EU GDP. (Reporting period: 01/2024 – 12/2024)
• SecondaryReutersPublic buying accounts for around 15% of the European Union's gross domestic product, or about €2.5 trillion ($2.91 trillion) in 2025, making it a powerful tool for tackling intense international competition and supply chain vulnerability.
• SecondaryOECD – Economic Surveys: European Union and Euro Area 2025Public procurement accounts for 14% of EU GDP and could provide an important impetus for new technology but it remains entirely national (European Court of Auditors, 2023).