Annemarie Drahmann on new European regulations for stallholders
There is much unrest among local stallholders in Utrecht. Owners who for decades had a permanent pitch for their stall are no longer guaranteed this due to new European regulations. So no more benefits for the current stallholders which is causing them great uncertainty and frustration.
With the new European tendering procedure, pitches will be distributed in a new way. All entrepreneurs from the European Union will soon be allowed to compete. Equal opportunities for everyone, especially with something like licence applications for which there is only a limited number. A local stallholder may not be given preferential treatment, which means that owners will no longer be given a fixed location. In other words, no more advantage for the current owners who pitch their stalls there. ‘The number of kiosks/stalls is often limited per municipality. If one owner is always allowed to pitch there, they have a financial advantage compared to other entrepreneurs’, says Annemarie Drahmann, associate professor in administrative law to Dutch RTL Nieuws.
Utrecht is the first to do so, but other municipalities will also soon have to put pitches for stalls out to European tender which could mean the disappearance of long-established stalls.