The Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU is to compile a progress report on negotiations at expert level on the draft regulation on the approval and surveillance of the motor vehicles market, on Monday 20 February. This will provide an opportunity to define the positions of the member states at political level for the first time.
“It will be the moment of truth”, a diplomatic source told us. This source has high expectations of this first meeting, as it marks the first time that the dossier moves from technical level to political level. The problem, the source went on to explain, currently lies in the composition of the 'technical harmonisation – motor vehicles' working party, as it is dominated by representatives of the national approval authorities, which are mostly calling for the status quo. Moving the dossier up to Council level will make it possible to crystallise political positions and move matters forward.
As things stand, three major groups of member states are emerging: - the first group, which, to an extent constitutes the hinterland of the automotive industry, wants to keep the status quo (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Luxembourg and Italy); - a second group, which more or less supports the European Commission's proposal (France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom); - lastly, Germany, is steering a course between the two. Another diplomatic source told us that Germany, the brightest star of its automotive sector, Volkswagen, having been profoundly caught up in the fraudulent software scandal (see EUROPE 11722), remained neutral for a long time in the debates at technical level and has only recently nailed its colours to the mast. There are gulfs over the question of the Forum project, as EUROPE has reported (see EUROPE 11711).
According to our information, the member states have consulted the legal services of the Council of the EU on the feasibility of the European agency to monitor the motor vehicles market. The services are reported to have confirmed the legal validity of this project and stated that political impetus was all that was missing.
The Maltese Presidency has announced its intention of moving quickly on this dossier and hopes to reach a political agreement before the end of its mandate. In its provisional calendar, the Maltese Presidency wanted an agreement at the 'Competitiveness' Council of 30 May. Given the current state of negotiations, the agreement is more likely to take shape in June, a source told us.
Consumer protection, industrial sector, social dumping in the road sector, services package. As is so often the case, the agenda of the 'Competitiveness' Council provides plenty to do. On the decision-making plank: the Council will adopt a general orientation on cooperation in consumer protection matters (see EUROPE 11727).
The competitiveness of the European industries will naturally be of great concern to the ministers, who will look, in particular, at the non-material investments of the competitiveness check-up. The ministers will discuss the competitiveness of the European industry with the Director General of BusinessEurope, Markus J. Beyrer, and Hariolf Kottmann, the president of the European Chemical Industry Council (known by its French acronym, CEFIC). They will discuss the balance between a pan-European approach and taking national and regional interests into account, the use of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), strengthening innovation and, of course, the European industrial strategy - as called for by most member states (led by Belgium and France in particular). On Thursday 16 February, a number of European associations from the industrial sector side signed a common declaration calling on the European Commission to present an action plan to support industrial sector.
Additionally, an item under 'any other business' on the obstacles to the single market in the road sector was added at the last minute by request of Slovenia (see EUROPE 11727). The Council will take note of the raft of measures on services in the single market (see EUROPE 11718). Lastly, the ministers will also discuss the modernisation of the European framework of public procurement in the framework of the European Semester. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)