The Ministers for the Economy exchanged views for the first time on the European Commission’s White Paper on a standardisation in the internal market for foreign subsidies (see EUROPE 12508/1) on Friday 23 October, in the presence of the Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
“It was a debate full of nuances”, Vice-President Vestager commented at the press conference. She recalled how sinuous the path was, between the need to protect the EU’s interests and ensure fair competition with economic operators from non-Member States (mainly Chinese and American, without naming them) on the one hand, not discouraging direct investment, on the other, some citing the risk of hidden protectionism.
The Member States had to express themselves on three modules: distortion of competition in general (module 1), the acquisition of companies (module 2), and public procurement (3).
The nuances remained the well-known ones. The Northern countries (Scandinavian and Baltic countries, with some nuances between the latter, Ireland, or certain Member States in the East) want to preserve an open economy. France, Italy and Poland are inclined towards strategic protection of their economic interests. Other Member States, such as Belgium, would have expressed a position equidistant from the two above-mentioned positions. Most delegations insisted on the necessity to avoid adding red tape.
However, this first discussion at ministerial level would have made it possible to show “movements” in some Member States that would have been inconceivable five years ago, particularly among the Scandinavian countries, we are told.
The second point of discussion concerned the innovations that will structure the European economy in the coming decade. According to Commissioner Breton and the German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Peter Altmaier, the issue of hydrogen, digital data (especially industrial data) and connectivity were the most frequently cited innovations.
Here, the key role of the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) was highlighted. But several Member States would have insisted on the need for these projects to be more inclusive, i.e. accessible to SMEs, as well as to “small” Member States, especially from the East (which have high expectations of technology transfers). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)