The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, seems to have listened to the many requests from companies across the continent. The proposals set out in the Antwerp Declaration of February 2024 (see EUROPE 13354/9) are largely included in the political guidelines for the next European Commission, which Mrs von der Leyen presented on Thursday 18 July.
The ‘European Competitiveness Fund’ promised by the newly re-elected President (see EUROPE 13456/1) corresponds in many respects to the ‘Clean Technology Deployment Fund’ called for by business leaders. It also responds to the call from the European Parliament and a number of countries, including France at the forefront, for a ‘Sovereignty Fund’.
Mrs von der Leyen intends to support the production on the European continent of strategic technologies “from AI to space, clean tech to biotech” through the ‘European Competitiveness Fund’. This source of funding will be injected into the Important Projects of Common Interest (IPCEI) to support cross-border projects.
While the size of this fund remains to be seen, it does reassure businesses, according to Linda Kalcher, Executive Director of the Strategic Perspectives think-tank. “Many of the companies I spoke to were concerned about the next Multiannual Financial Framework”, she told Agence Europe. She also said she was confident that such a fund would be able to succeed after negotiations in the EU Council.
Bernd Lange (S&D, German), who is due to be re-elected Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, believes that we will have to be vigilant at that point. “If new own resources are not created, then I see things in a rather gloomy light”, he warned.
Another avenue put forward by the President of the Commission to support production in Europe is the introduction of a European preference for public procurement in certain strategic sectors. This option has gained ground in debates in recent months and appears increasingly plausible, but is still likely to provoke debate among Member States committed to free trade and open trade, admits a European source.
Simplifying rules
This is one of the key objectives of the next Commission: to simplify European rules as much as possible to make life easier for businesses. To demonstrate the importance of this, Mrs von der Leyen has proposed a Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for implementation and simplification. At the same time, each Commissioner must ensure that they never overburden companies with legislation in their portfolio.
The Commission plans to make proposals to “simplify, consolidate and codify legislation” in order to avoid overlaps and contradictions. This idea is reminiscent of the ‘omnibus’ legislation called for in the Antwerp Declaration.
The European Commission should, in any case, “make every effort to prioritise growth over legislation”, said Vladimír Dlouhý, President of Eurochambres, on Thursday 18 July.
Also in line with business demands, Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a new mechanism for monitoring the impact on competitiveness and SMEs (‘competitiveness check’). This mechanism will be used for each new proposal to ensure that it is as simple as possible.
For his part, Bernd Lange MEP welcomed the emphasis placed on reducing the administrative burden and suggested that no time should be lost in implementing it: “These projects have been known for a long time. That’s why we now need to implement them quickly and effectively. Time is limited and any hesitation will tip the balance in the wrong direction”.
The next Commission should go further in harmonising the rules, by creating a new Europe-wide legal status for companies. This “28th regime” should enable entrepreneurs not to have to choose a particular jurisdiction if they operate in several EU countries, and to have a set of rules (in certain areas) that are valid throughout the continent.
Mrs von der Leyen would also like to create a new category for small and mid-cap companies, so that they can benefit from even more advantageous rules.
See Mrs von der Leyen’s political guidelines for the 2024-2029 Commission: https://aeur.eu/f/d2o (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)