The European Commission intends to present the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI) on Tuesday 13 September, during the European Commission President’s State of the Union speech, according to information obtained on Tuesday 28 June.
This confirms the announcements made by the European Commission to the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) (see EUROPE 12955/10). The instrument will thus be presented a few months later than originally planned (see EUROPE 12713/6).
According to a PowerPoint document from the end of May seen by EUROPE, the Commission is hesitating between binding measures and recommendations. For example, the institution is considering the establishment of mechanisms to determine which products and services are essential in a crisis context and binding rules with lists of measures that are incompatible with specific crises.
The institution is considering, among other things - a system of compulsory notification of national measures put in place to respond to crises; - a duty for companies to respond to the European Commission’s request regarding their production capacity and stocks; - the creation of a platform for disseminating information on national measures put in place to respond to a crisis situation; - the obligation to exchange information between Member States through a forum.
It envisages being able to oblige operators to increase production capacity for certain products, to speed up authorisation procedures by obliging Member States, or to force the distribution of crisis (stockpiled) products in the event of a serious shortage, or to give priority to orders for products needed to deal with a crisis.
These restrictive measures, which the institution is considering, are of concern to some diplomatic corps. At the beginning of June, nine EU Member States expressed their concerns in a joint letter about the development of the European Commission’s plan (see EUROPE 12969/12).
To consult the European Commission’s PowerPoint document: https://aeur.eu/f/2cr (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)