EU Ministers for the Internal Market and Industry will meet on Thursday 29 September to hold two initial public policy debates on new European Commission proposals, namely the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI) and the ecodesign regulation.
In the morning, shortly before 10 a.m., a first debate will be held on the Single Market Emergency Instrument, presented at the beginning of September (see EUROPE 13024/1). Here, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council will seek to identify the main elements of the proposal that would “increase the resilience of the Single Market” from the perspective of the Member States. In addition, the Presidency will sound out ministers on the link between this new instrument and other proposals presented (e.g. HERA, ‘Chips Act’, and ‘Data Act’).
The text is causing concern in many delegations and in the economic sector because of the strong powers the European Commission is granting itself in times of crisis (see EUROPE 13022/10 and 13025/12).
‘Sustainable Products’ Regulation
The ministers will have a first debate, open to the public, on the proposal for a regulation aimed at establishing a framework for the ecodesign of almost all products in the EU, which should lead to rules by product categories in the coming years (see EUROPE 13024/6).
This centrepiece of the ‘circular economy’ legislative package was presented by the European Commission last March (see EUROPE 12922/1).
Numerous discussions have taken place since March to identify which EU Council formation would deal with this dossier and it was the wish of the Czech Presidency that the debate should take place in the EU ‘Competitiveness’ Council, an EU source confirmed on 27 September. The aim of this policy debate is to obtain indications from the ministers in order to draw up guidelines for subsequent work at technical level.
Ministers will be asked to answer the following questions:
1) How can the ecodesign requirements, the Digital Product Passport and other aspects introduced by the regulation contribute, together with market surveillance, to the better functioning of the Single Market and the free movement of sustainable products? How can it contribute to the digital transition of the European industry and to the improvement of its competitiveness and resilience?
2) Given that the instruments that will flow from this framework regulation require coordination among all key actors - EU institutions, Member States and stakeholders - what should be the role of each party, and how should the relevant competencies be divided, to ensure effective adoption of product-specific requirements as well as the correct implementation of all the instruments specified?
Transformation technologies and raw materials
The ministers will then have an informal lunch on the issue of the resilience of the Single Market in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in particular with regard to the disruption of value chains for raw materials. Here, the Presidency would like to hear from Ministers on how to facilitate the reintegration of the Ukrainian economy into the EU’s value chains.
Two miscellaneous public items were added. A first miscellaneous item was added at the request of the German delegation concerning the establishment of a new ‘European Alliance for Transformation Technologies’ (see EUROPE 13026/24), and a second on a joint Franco-German document on the European Commodities Act (see EUROPE 13026/23). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens and Aminata Niang)