Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU met for the fourth time (‘trilogue’) on Wednesday 10 December to make progress on the reform of the EU Customs Code.
They agreed on digital sovereignty and bilateral agreements with third countries. They also agreed on access to the EU DataHub.
According to a European source, the Danish Presidency had hoped to conclude the negotiations before the end of the year (see EUROPE 13762/20), but “at technical level, not enough progress had been made”.
On Parliament’s side, “they had many other priorities, so they were not able to meet as often as the Presidency would have liked”, the source confided.
“On the Council side, we’ve had a very strict mandate simply because there is very limited willingness to radically change the way customs systems work among Member States, whereas on the Parliament side, there are rather radical ideas on how much things should change. And to find the balance between the very ambitious approach of the Parliament and the rather conservative approach of many Member States has been a bit of a challenge”, the source added.
This source said that the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU should be able to bring the remaining negotiations to a successful conclusion in the coming months.
The European finance ministers will review the dossier at the Ecofin Council on Friday 12 December (see other news). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)