The European Union’s Industry Ministers met in Brussels on Thursday 28 November to discuss competitiveness once again. They focused on removing barriers in the internal market and cutting red tape.
Lengthy negotiations on the text of the conclusions on the future of European competitiveness were not enough to reach a consensus among the EU27. The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU therefore proposed adopting the text as Hungarian Presidency conclusions with the support of 25 Member States.
At issue is the reference to “clean tech” in the text, which should be supported by the EU, a reference that poses a problem for Germany and Austria. “EU money should not flow into technologies that are not supported by all Member States. We can’t agree on the text as it currently stands”, said the German Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Bernhard Kluttig.
“I think it’s the same old story”, lamented the Hungarian Minister for Economic Development, Márton Nagy, referring to the nuclear debate.
The same applies to funding for industrial policy, in his view. “The problem will always be where to find the money, what source of money do we have to finance competitiveness”, he said. The reference to funding, and in particular to the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), has been the subject of discussions between the EU27 over the last few days. Several delegations wanted to make sure that the text of the conclusions did not commit them for the negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework. A compromise was reached on this point to clarify that this text was “without prejudice to the negotiations on the post-2027 MFF”.
Regulatory load. The subject of red tape, on the other hand, has significantly brought the Ministers together. In their view, this is an absolute priority to attract more investment in Europe and avoid relocations.
“We need not only streamlined focus, better regulation, but we should also reconsider that we regulate what is important and that we shouldn’t regulate everything”, said Slovenia’s State Secretary for the Economy, Matevž Frangež.
The Member States are particularly keen to see the Commission’s future omnibus initiative and to hear how the institution will reduce reporting obligations.
“This also applies, for example, to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Here too, it is a question of seeing how we can reduce red tape, or how we can possibly postpone the implementation of the text”, suggested the Austrian Minister for Labour and the Economy, Martin Kocher.
Internal market. The Member States also broadly converged on the call to strengthen the Internal market. This means removing existing barriers, particularly for the services sector.
“We should set a deadline for cutting red tape. Investments are moving away from Europe. Its is time to deliver on the conclusions we agreed on in the ‘Budapest Declaration’. We can reduce the burden while driving transition forward”, insisted Danish Industry Minister Morten Bødskov.
Batteries. The meeting was an opportunity for the EU27 to address the issue of battery production in Europe, at a time when the giant Northvolt is threatened with going out of business (see EUROPE 13531/27).
“We are concerned that battery production plants are being built very slowly”, said Bernhard Kluttig during the debates.
The Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, Ebba Busch, believes that the issue is directly linked to the regulatory burden that is too cumbersome for businesses, and that in addition to fierce and unfair competition from the Chinese and the Americans, European companies are facing difficulties in operating on the internal market.
Northvolt’s case is not hopeless, however, according to the Minister: “If the EU can send a strong message today that there is a secure future for the battery sector, that will increase possibilities for Northvolt to add new capital”, she said.
Asked by Agence Europe how the EU could support battery manufacturing projects, Bernhard Kluttig also stressed the need to create a favourable environment for industrial projects: “We would be delighted if the Commission continued to support battery projects in general, and created an environment in which these projects could develop and grow”.
See the provisional draft conclusions pending publication of the final text: https://aeur.eu/f/ehk (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)