The EU27 ambassadors meeting in Coreper I are due to discuss, on Friday 13 October, the new working document sent by the EU Council Presidency on the Net-Zero Industry Act and its scope, which EUROPE has been able to consult.
The document sent to the representatives of the Member States raises the thorny issue of which technologies should be considered ‘strategic’ - or simply ‘net-zero’ in the regulation - and therefore benefit or not from financing facilities and accelerated permit allocation procedures.
In particular, the text refers to the inclusion of “transformative industrial technologies for decarbonisation” in the list of ‘net-zero’ technologies, as presented in the latest compromise proposed by the Presidency (see EUROPE 13247/4).
It is noted that this addition “would significantly broaden the scope of the Net-Zero Industry Act by including not only the manufacture of technologies, but also their deployment on existing industrial sites and/or in new low-carbon industrial facilities”.
Another point, which is likely to become a bone of contention among the representatives of the EU27, is the question of which technologies should be added to the so-called ‘strategic’ list in order to extend it beyond the eight initially proposed by the Commission (see EUROPE 13143/1).
Some countries, notably France, are continuing to push for the addition of nuclear energy technologies. The EU Council Presidency had proposed including them in the list of ‘net-zero’ technologies in its latest compromise, but not in the ‘strategic’ list (see EUROPE 13247/4).
The working document also seeks to sound out Member States on the possibility of introducing pre-qualification criteria for access to public procurement.
As far as Parliament is concerned, the latest negotiations have produced a compromise among MEPs on the issue of technologies: they do not want to maintain two separate lists, but prefer to distinguish ‘strategic’ projects using criteria based on their contribution to the EU’s resilience or competitiveness (see EUROPE 13260/4).
MEPs are due to adopt their position in committee on 25 October. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)