The Netherlands does not have to put public transport services in its big cities out to tender because of EU rules, contrary to what junior transport minister Tineke Huizinga recently told MPs, according to today’s Financieele Dagblad.

‘What Huizinga says is rubbish,’ said Liberal (VVD) MEP Janine Hennis-Plasschaert, who herself supports contracting out public transport. ‘There has never been compulsory European tendering and that certainly won’t be the case with the new rules.’
Socialist Party MEP Erik Meijer told the paper that every city and region is free to decide whether or not to contract out public transport services.
The European parliament is due to vote on new transport legislation this week.