The last meeting of EU Competitiveness Ministers under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU will be dominated by two main topics, namely the update of the industrial strategy on Thursday 27 May and space policy on the following day. The legislative package to frame digital activities and research will also be in the spotlight, with a political agreement to be confirmed on the European Joint Undertaking for High Performance Computing.
As the digital sector is a Portuguese priority, the ministers will be briefed by the EU Council Presidency on the work done on data and artificial intelligence, on the legislative package on digital services, and on the data governance act. The proposals will be considered with a view to providing policy guidance on future work.
In addition to digital issues, tourism will also be discussed, and the ministers are expected to adopt conclusions on the future of the sector for the next decade. The EU Council’s Competitiveness and Growth Working Group discussed the revised version of the Portuguese draft conclusions on 16 March. (see EUROPE 12640/21).
Industrial strategy
After a lunch dedicated to strengthening European coordination in the context of the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministers will hold a policy debate on the update of the industrial strategy (see EUROPE 12713/6).
In its framework document, the Portuguese Presidency targets three main themes: strengthening the resilience of the single market, the issue of the EU’s strategic dependencies, and accelerating the dual environmental and digital transition. As such, it will sound out Ministers as to which of these three elements should be prioritised. Also in relation to these three elements, the Presidency will try to determine their importance in the context of the future Single Market Emergency Instrument.
Above all, a diplomatic source explained, the discussions will be guided by the analysis of critical raw materials and the Union’s dependence on third countries. Here, the EU Council Presidency will seek to determine which commodity value chains are preferred by Member States in the use of available funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the budgetary instrument at the heart of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan.
Research
On Friday 28 May, the Ministers responsible for research will hold a policy debate on the new European Research Area (ERA - see EUROPE 12571/9) and its deployment in the coming decade.
They are also expected to adopt conclusions on how to enhance the attractiveness of research careers in the EU (see EUROPE 12650/2). These conclusions “will be, in a way, the first practical and concrete step in the implementation of the new ERA, which will focus on researchers, their careers and their working conditions”, a senior European official said.
A draft political agreement in principle (‘general approach’) on the regulation setting up the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (see EUROPE 12106/26) will also be submitted to the Ministers for approval.
The Presidency will also inform delegations of the progress made in the discussions on the EU’s participation in the European Metrology Partnership, as well as on the Regulation establishing the Joint Undertakings in the framework of Horizon Europe. Other items on the agenda include the ‘Mission Innovation’ initiative (see EUROPE 12266/12) and the priorities of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2021.
Finally, over lunch, the Research Ministers will discuss the articulation of national recovery and resilience plans with the missions and partnerships foreseen under the Horizon Europe programme.
Space
Space policy will also be in the spotlight, a few days after the final adoption of the regulation on the EU space programme for 2021-2027 and the launch of the new European agency to implement it (see other news).
The Ministers will be invited to adopt two EU Council conclusions related to space policy and to the support and emergence of the private sector in the space field in Europe. A first set of conclusions is dedicated to the European ‘New Space’, and a second set of conclusions is dedicated to the economic potential of spatial data for European coastal regions.
Above all, for the first time, the Ministers will be invited to discuss a European space traffic management model in connection with the European Commission’s communication on creating synergies between the defence and space sectors (see EUROPE 12658/3). In this respect, the Portuguese Presidency will seek to determine the degree of importance that Ministers attach to the development of a European approach to space traffic management. As such, it will seek initial approval of its draft roadmap for developing such a system.
It will ask Ministers how best to develop an operational space traffic management and a future European space situational awareness system to promote a European regulatory framework. Finally, it will try to determine the components of space traffic management between surveillance, coordination and regulation, as well as European capacity building.