Negotiators from the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission on the anti-coercion regulation met on Monday 27 March for what they hoped would be their last meeting (‘trilogue’). At the time of going to press, the outcome of the discussions was not yet known, but the Swedish Presidency of the European Council hoped to conclude the negotiations on this occasion.
Several European Parliament members also held this hope: “It is time to send a message to the rest of the world, especially to China”, said MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Renew Europe, French), who is involved in the interinstitutional negotiations.
The main disagreement between the European Parliament and the EU Council on the decision-making method was still open before the start of the meeting (see EUROPE 13085/30).
The European Commission wanted to decide itself whether a third country action was of a coercive nature and then impose countermeasures (see EUROPE 12849/1) by means of implementing regulation. The European Parliament agreed with this approach (see EUROPE 13033/15), but the EU Council demanded something different: they wanted to have a say in whether an act was coercive, but also that the views of Member States should be taken more into account when the European Commission decides on countermeasures (see EUROPE 13064/5).
Since the last trilogue, the Commission has made alternative proposals, and these relate mainly to comitology procedures, which involve Member States when the European Commission adopts implementing regulations.
“This is a new foreign policy instrument and this requires new ways of taking decisions”, an EU source said.
In any case, the European Parliament hoped on Monday to negotiate a reasonable solution, in the knowledge that there are fine margins of manoeuvre with the Swedish Presidency. The issue for MEPs was to avoid a method where one Member State can then block a decision.
The interinstitutional discussions also focused on the annexes to the regulation, i.e. the range of countermeasures that the EU will be able to impose in the event of enforcement action.
EUROPE will report on the outcome of the meeting. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)