EU Ministers for the Internal Market and Industry supported the general approach proposed by the Czech Presidency of the EU Council on the semiconductor initiative at the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 1 December. However, the Member States remain uncertain about the budgetary architecture of the initiative.
During the negotiations at technical level and at the level of the Committee of Permanent Representatives I (Coreper I), the thorny budgetary issue remained unresolved, with the vast majority of Member States opposing the use of decommitments from Horizon Europe (see EUROPE 13057/8). They thus adopted a statement which was set out in an annex to the general approach.
This was summarised by the Czech Presidency of the EU Council at the opening of the round table. In essence, the Council wants to maintain the planned overall budget of €3.3 billion proposed by the European Commission. At the same time, the Council reiterates its commitment to the joint declaration of the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission on the re-use of decommitted funds from the Horizon Europe programme with regard to the limit of €500 million in the period 2021-2027 for the release of these decommitted funds for the benefit of the research programme.
Therefore, “the Commission is invited to support the Council in exploring alternative solutions that could be discussed in the course of the forthcoming trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament, while respecting the prerogatives of the Budget Authority”, reads the statement, which was obtained by EUROPE earlier this month (see EUROPE 13070/3).
During the round table discussion, a large majority of Member States, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, came to support the declaration, assuring that they would maintain the European Commission’s level of budgetary ambition. Germany has assured that there will be no further transfers in order to preserve the agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework. Ireland stressed the need to clarify the budgetary and financial architecture.
Speaking immediately after the Presidency, the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, did not hide his concern. “The main issue that remains to be resolved is the budget. We must have the means to achieve our ambitions”, he told the ministers in his opening remarks.
He recalled that “the budgetary effort” proposed by the European Commission is certainly “significant”, but it remains limited “in view of the needs and the challenge and also in comparison with the €11 billion of the US Chips Act provided for research”.
He concluded: “It is therefore unfortunate that the Council refuses to use unused Horizon Europe commitment appropriations as a source of funding for the Chips Act.” The Commissioner noted the paradoxical position of the Council: “We also note that the Council does not wish to reduce the overall budget of the Chips Act, but the reality is that we find ourselves with a €400 million hole in the budget initially planned, which de facto reduces the level of ambition of our European industrial policy.” Mr Breton therefore hoped that solutions would be found in the coming months and that the interinstitutional agreement would preserve the ambition of the proposal.
The budget issue will therefore be decided during the interinstitutional negotiations under the Swedish or Spanish Presidency. However, the European Parliament is behind in the negotiations and is expected to adopt its position in February 2023.
A voluntary consortium
As reported in our pages, the Council eventually supported the proposal to create a voluntary European Chips Infrastructure Consortium (ECIC). Furthermore, the compromise also insists on the openness of this consortium to clarify the rules for the selection of funding proposals which will not be based on a specific legal form of cooperation.
To view the latest compromise for the general approach: https://aeur.eu/f/49f (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)