The European Parliament adopted a resolution, on Thursday 16 February, detailing its expectations for the European Commission's ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ (310 votes in favour, 155 against, 100 abstentions). The text was subject to numerous amendments, notably from the EPP group, which did not agree with the joint text of Renew Europe, S&D and the Greens/EFA.
“This resolution is a huge success. Where the EU Council’s ambition has been severely hampered by the most reluctant states, all parliamentarians are united. All except the right”, said Valerie Hayer (Renew Europe, French), leader of the resolution. Many MEPs blame EPP President Manfred Weber (German) for wanting to handicap the European Commission President by opposing her proposals.
The EPP, for its part, criticises a text that is too oriented towards the green transition and not enough towards the rest of the industry. “Renew Europe gave in to the Greens and Socialists to focus only on the EU production capacity of clean energy. Yes, we need to move towards clean energy. But for the next winter, our key concern has to be energy security using all available energy sources”, said the negotiator on the text, Christian Ehler (EPP, German).
The EPP’s amendments were overwhelmingly rejected, including attempts to warn against “too stringent a regulation”.
European Sovereignty Fund
As we had written (see EUROPE 13122/5), MEPs are calling for the EU to set up a European Sovereignty Fund at the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) later this year. This should support not only so-called green production, but also strategic sectors including health, space and critical raw materials.
MEPs are not afraid of increasing the MFF and suggest that this could be done by increasing the EU budget’s own resources. This will be done through a financial transaction tax (FTT), they say. They adopted an amendment by Mohammed Chahim (S&D, Dutch), which urges the Commission and Member States “to do their utmost to reach an agreement on the FTT by the end of June 2023”.
State aid
As for the relaxation of State aid rules, it must be proportionate, says the European Parliament. The voice of smaller countries with weaker financial means has been heard: MEPs oppose any attempt to relax State aid rules without providing a European solution for all Member States that do not have the fiscal capacity to finance massive State aid.
Buy European Act
The principle of European preference in public procurement could not make its way into the resolution. The amendment proposed by Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, French) was rejected by 364 votes to 169 with 37 abstentions. He had proposed to impose a minimum local production requirement for public procurement candidates in strategic sectors.
Simplification of procedures
In addition to financial support for the industry, the European Parliament calls for rapid permitting procedures for new renewable energy projects. The same applies to important projects of common European interest (IPCEI), whose processing time is too slow, say MEPs.
International trade
The European Parliament also wants to push the Commission to conclude trade agreements that promote European environmental and sustainable development values and standards. Diversification of trading partners is positive, for MEPs, especially to reduce dependencies on critical raw materials (see other news).
Finally, with regard to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), they agree with the line taken by the Commission and the Member States: efforts should be made to obtain favourable treatment for European companies in the IRA. However, MEPs add that the EU should be prepared to lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization, “if the assessment shows that the IRA continues to be discriminatory in its implementation”.
See the joint resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/5dc (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)