On Wednesday 16 November, the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) adopted the EU Council’s position on the regulation that will introduce an ‘anti-coercion’ tool, a step that allows the opening of negotiations with the European Parliament (‘trilogues’). MEPs adopted their report in early October (see EUROPE 13039/19). This text should enable the EU to react more effectively when a third country uses economic coercion to interfere with the choices of the EU or one of its Member States (see EUROPE 12849/1).
The EU Council wants to be more involved in the decision-making process of whether a third country’s action constitutes economic coercion of Europeans. In its original proposal, the Commission was to determine such a situation by a simple decision (Article 4), the first step before responding to enforcement action.
The Member States agreed on a somewhat different formula. They want the Commission to submit a proposal for an implementing regulation which they would adopt by qualified majority “expeditiously”. This lock would then give the Commission the green light to proceed.
The EU Council also wants to be able to amend the implementing regulation submitted by the Commission, although at this stage the text only decides on the coercive nature, not on the response.
In an interview with EUROPE, the European Parliament rapporteur for the text, Bernd Lange (S&D, German), suggested that this step should remain the sole responsibility of the Commission, as the decision is based on clear criteria set out in the text (see other news).
How to impose countermeasures
As regards the countermeasures to be adopted subsequently against the third country concerned, the EU Council leaves this to the Commission. The Commission may adopt an implementing regulation setting out the measures to be taken from the options listed in an annex to the legislative text.
However, the Commission and the EU Council have agreed on a specific declaration, where the Commission commits itself to take due account of the opinion of the Member States in the procedure.
In concrete terms, the Commission undertakes to reach a qualified majority in the comitology procedure involving the Member States before adopting an implementing regulation. Under comitology rules, the Commission is only blocked if there is a qualified majority against the text.
As regards the possibilities of countermeasures listed in Annex I of the text, the EU Council does not make any major changes.
Negotiations with the European Parliament should start soon, possibly as early as the beginning of December, according to an EU source.
See the EU Council’s negotiating mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/43e (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)