Member States’ deputy ambassadors to the EU agreed on Wednesday 23 November to fund the semiconductor initiative with up to €3.3 billion, but without using additional Horizon Europe decommitments, according to information we discovered on Thursday 24 November.
Thus, the national delegations have validated the budget of €3.3 billion. However, as we anticipated (see EUROPE 12055/1), they rejected the proposal to recycle unpaid budgets from the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. This represents a financing gap of €400 million for the Digital Europe programme.
In other words, in principle, the Member States support the European Commission’s ambitions, but technically they are financing €2.9 billion and not €3.3 billion, a diplomatic source told us. They hope to find a solution with the European Parliament during the interinstitutional negotiations and have attached a joint declaration to this effect, we were told.
The Member States also gave their definitive support to a voluntary approach to the European Chips Infrastructure Consortium (ECIC) - as many delegations questioned the added value of such a consortium. The Presidency achieved unanimity in exchange for clarifications on the voluntary nature of the consortium, with the possibility of “openness to different legal forms of cooperation and other participants”. It also clarified the selection process for funding projects.
The ‘Public Authorities Board of the Chips Joint Undertaking’ should be able to verify the openness of an ECIC and request that corrective action be taken, if necessary.
The text is expected to be presented to EU ministers responsible for industry at the ‘Competitiveness’ Council on 1 December. The European Parliament hopes to adopt its position in February 2023. The aim is to reach an interinstitutional agreement either under the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council or under the Spanish Presidency.
To view the latest compromise for the general approach: https://aeur.eu/f/49f (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)