With 385 votes in favour, 85 against, and 151 abstentions, the European Parliament gathered for the plenary session in Strasbourg has officially adopted its position on the project Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP).
Over one hundred amendments to the text of the report were tabled before the vote. A large majority of them were approved, with the exception of those tabled by The Left and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group.
Among those approved by the European Parliament, several amendments seek to clarify the type of technologies that can benefit from STEP, by aligning with the terminology used in the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Gone are ‘deep tech’ and ‘clean technologies’, which have been replaced by ‘net zero’ technologies and biotechnologies, as defined in the NZIA.
Moreover, the amendment adds, “Technologies should be considered critical when they bring an innovative, cutting-edge element with significant economic potential to the Single Market or contribute to the prevention or reduction of Union dependencies”.
For the text’s rapporteurs, the question of rationalising the platform’s operation and its scope of activity had been a key point in the report since its first draft in parliamentary committee (see EUROPE 13245/3).
During the debate on the report that was held the evening of Monday, 16 October, Christian Ehler (EPP, German)—the rapporteur for the text in the Committee on Industry—reminded [his fellow MEPs], “We have tried to not only improve this proposal but also include it in a set of regulations to ensure that all these texts complement each other”.
“The strategic autonomy of the European Union is essential for us to be competitive [...]. [W]e need to take action now. We need to take [...] measures”, said his co-rapporteur for the Committee on Budgets, José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portuguese). “STEP is the first step [...] towards [the creation of] an actual Sovereignty Fund. [...] We must convince the [EU] Council not to abandon this fund”, he urged MEPs on the eve of the vote.
MEPs also supported increasing STEP’s total budget from €10 billion to €13 billion—an increase that had already been approved in committee. During the debate, while the majority of MEPs once again stressed the importance of the project, the platform’s lack of ambition—linked to its lack of resources—was lamented.
MEPs voted to send the text as amended back to the parliamentary committee for trilogue negotiations. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)