Member States’ ambassadors to the EU expressed some reservations about the future Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI), at a briefing by the European Commission to the Committee of Permanent Representatives I (Coreper I) on Wednesday 14 September.
This was a first round of discussions on the proposal, but the discussions were fairly brief, several sources told us, as the text will be formally adopted on Monday 19 September (see EUROPE 13020/21).
The text was presented by Kerstin Jorna, Director General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). She presented the legislative text (see EUROPE 12012/4), but also the omnibus regulations to amend 14 directives and five regulations, a source told us.
Most Member States supported the objective of the instrument both to preserve the proper functioning of the single market and to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the EU. However, some concerns were expressed, in particular about the obligations that would be imposed on companies and the issue of prioritising the production of products in times of crisis. The definition of a crisis was also mentioned. Several ambassadors stressed the need to focus on prevention mechanisms.
Ministers will now give their governments’ initial positions during the next ‘Competitiveness’ Council meeting on 29 September, in an initial public policy debate on the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 12017/8). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)