Judgment_paragraph 45 · Proceedings brought by Kauno miesto savivaldybė and Kauno miesto savivaldybės administracija (C-285/18)

45The freedom of the Member States as to the choice of means of providing services whereby the contracting authorities meet their own needs follows moreover from recital 5 of Directive 2014/24, which states that ‘nothing in this Directive obliges Member States to contract out or externalise the provision of services that they wish to provide themselves or to organise by means other than public contracts within the meaning of this Directive’, thereby reflecting the case-law of the Court prior to that directive.