Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo chaired the ‘European Industry Summit’ in Antwerp on Tuesday 20 February, alongside the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The two leaders welcomed dozens of major EU industrialists, who presented their grievances for the coming months and years. The business representatives also adopted the ‘Antwerp Declaration’, which calls for a ‘European industrial deal’ and lists ten areas for action by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States.
The day before, Mrs von der Leyen, who detailed her priorities for a potential second term in office, had advocated a “close dialogue with industry” (see EUROPE 13353/1).
For Mr De Croo, support for European industry is vital, and this means attracting investment, preserving high-quality jobs and keeping supply chains open.
‘Antwerp Declaration’
The 73 signatories of the ‘Antwerp Declaration’ include 57 companies (including Bayer, BASF, ExxonMobil Petroleum, Sanofi, Total Energies and Arcelormittal Europe), 15 associations (including Eurofer, Fertilizers Europe, Cembureau and Eurometaux) and one organisation (IndustriALL).
The ‘Declaration’ lists the actions needed at European level to enable industry to make the ecological transition and survive in the face of global competition.
The requests largely concern the way in which the EU legislates. According to the signatories, more account needs to be taken of the reality of the industry and, therefore, of the views of stakeholders before proposing new legislation. They point the finger at current legislation that is complicated to implement, ‘reporting’ obligations that they consider excessive and “regulatory inconsistency”.
To remedy the problems they have identified, the industry is recommending an ‘omnibus’ legislative proposal that provides for corrective measures on a range of existing European texts. This should even be the first legislation proposed by the next Commission, according to the authors of the declaration.
Among the other recommendations, a number are in line with the measures already undertaken as part of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) or the Critical Raw Materials Act: reducing the time taken to obtain permits, increasing extraction, production and recycling of raw materials on European soil, increasing the number of international partnerships, etc.
However, manufacturers want to go further. For example, they want to extend the scope of these two texts, simplify the rules on state aid and provide more public funding to support industry. In particular, they are calling for a ‘Clean Tech Deployment Fund’.
In terms of method, the authors of the ‘Antwerp Declaration’ suggest the creation of the post of First Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for the famous ‘European industrial deal’.
See the ‘Antwerp Declaration’: https://aeur.eu/f/ax5 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)