The Czech Presidency of the EU Council intends to consult with the Member States’ Deputy Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper I) on Friday 4 November in order to decide on two major outstanding issues, namely the funding and financial architecture of the regulation on semiconductors (Chips Act) and the modalities of the future European Chips Infrastructure Consortium.
“While delegations generally support the objectives of the proposal, their views still differ on how best to achieve those objectives”, the Presidency analyses in its latest compromise, published on 27 October and obtained by EUROPE. Two major issues remain unresolved: the budgetary construction of the regulation and the question of the continuation of the European Chips Infrastructure Consortium (as we recently reported - see EUROPE 13043/9).
As a reminder, the initiative, according to the European Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 12886/1), will be allocated up to €3.3 billion, half of which will be funded by the Horizon Europe framework programme and half by the Digital Europe programme. To counterbalance this budgetary drain, the Commission proposes to make an additional €400 million from decommitments available again for the Horizon Europe programme.
Therefore, the Czech Presidency would like to sound out delegations on two options. The first would leave the European Commission’s budgetary construction “unchanged”. The second would reject the use of decommitments under Horizon Europe. In the latter case, the Presidency proposes in return to reduce the amounts from the Digital Europe programme by €400 million.
As for the European Chip Infrastructure Consortium, an original and voluntary scheme devised by the European Commission, a large number of the European delegations seemed sceptical about its added value compared to existing consortia.
Therefore, the Czech Presidency also puts two options on the table on this matter. The first would be to build on its previous compromise (see EUROPE 13043/9), which aligns the terms of the new consortium with those of the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC). This is to ensure greater legal certainty.
For the first option, the Presidency suggests provisions on opening the consortium to new members and the possibility for Member States to be observers, even if they do not contribute financially to the consortium.
In addition, the proposal sets out a procedure on how the statutes can be amended. The Presidency clarifies the role of the Commission. It includes a provision stating that the said consortium is an international organisation and can therefore be exempted from VAT, if it is composed only of public entities.
The second option is more expedient and suggests abolishing the European Chip Infrastructure Consortium.
The objective of the Czech Presidency is to obtain clear guidelines from the national delegations in order to be able to resume work at technical level with a view to proposing a compromise for approval in mid-November at Coreper I and to obtain political guidance for the December Competitiveness Council (see EUROPE 13042/13).
On the European Parliament side, negotiations are progressing slowly and the text’s rapporteur, Dan Nica (S&D, Romanian), has reported a general delay in the European Parliament. The aim now would be for the Parliament to be ready in the first quarter of 2023 to have an interinstitutional agreement within the following year (see EUROPE 13042/13).
To access the 27 October compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/3vo
To view the 13 October compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/3mb (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)