The French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Economic Recovery, Bruno Le Maire, and his German counterpart, the Federal Minister for the Economy and Energy, Peter Altmaier, agreed on a joint contribution to update the industrial strategy, during a working session on Tuesday 16 February.
In their Non-paper, the two Member States call, in particular, for a strengthening of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. They say they believe that a review of the carbon price should be considered.
Above all, they propose, on the basis of the strategic dependencies of the EU highlighted by the European Commission, to look into the launch of new important projects of common European interest (IPCEI) in the field of health. As such, they suggest a revision of the IPCEIs, in particular to take better account of SMEs. Here, both States argue that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) could fund new IPCEIs.
They call as well for the development of new performance indicators to formulate policy objectives into concrete actions and ensure better monitoring of their implementation.
On the international front, they also stress the importance of revising the European regulatory framework on competition to take better account of competition from non-European companies. They call for a better implementation of the principle of reciprocity and a better application of the European framework for the examination of foreign direct investments (FDI).
The IPCEIs are at the heart of Paris' attention in order to succeed in the post-coronavirus economic recovery. Mr Le Maire had declared the day before, during a meeting with the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, that he wanted to create a new IPCEI in electronic components (see EUROPE 12658/4).
To consult the French/German Non-paper: https://bit.ly/37k4lrq (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)