EU industry ministers will be invited by the French Presidency of the Council of the EU (FPEU) to answer a series of questions related to the European Commission’s proposals to strengthen the European semiconductor ecosystem, at the Competitiveness Council on 9 June in Luxembourg, according to information obtained on Thursday 19 May.
The issues are not yet known, but the objective of the French Presidency would be to obtain a political impetus on the salient points of the legislative proposal, in order to guide the work of the next Czech Presidency of the Council.
Negotiations in the Council are proceeding at a technical level, notably with the recent publication by the Commission of an internal working document which has enabled national delegations to better understand the proposal (see EUROPE 12954/32).
For the time being, national delegations have examined articles 4 to 8 and are seeking to clarify the text. In particular, they want to avoid duplication of existing structures, for example between the European Chips Infrastructure Consortium (ECIC), the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) and the Digital Innovation Hubs.
At the end of May, the Member States will discuss articles 10 to 14. They will have to submit their amendments to the Presidency in mid-June on the whole regulation.
The timetable for the European Parliament negotiations on the proposal for the Chips Joint Undertaking is now set. For example, the draft report by Eva Maydell (EPP, Bulgaria) (see EUROPE 12935/22) is expected to be presented at the end of September and voted on in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) in early December 2022 or January 2023. The plenary vote is expected to take place either in January or February next year.
The timetable for the draft Chips Act regulation, steered by Dan Nica (S&D, Romania), is not yet fixed to our knowledge.
To consult the French compromise proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/1qf (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)