COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

 

Press material Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 11:36 | Media advisory | (CHANGE OF ROOM) Press briefing ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 8 December 2023   The press briefing ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council will take place on Thursday, 7 December 2023 at 13.15. This briefing will be "off the record". The press briefing will take place in a hybrid format: EU accredited journalists will be able to participate and ask questions either remotely or in person at the Justus Lipsius main press room. To attend the event remotely, please use this link to register and have the possibility to ask questions. Those who already registered for previous press events of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council do not need to do it again. Deadline for registration: Thursday, 7 December 2023 at 11.00 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants shortly after the deadline.

Meetings Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 11:34 | MEETING | Agenda highlights - Foreign Affairs Council, 11 December 2023   The Foreign Affairs Council will exchange views on: the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the situation in Israel, the Gaza strip and the region, the Sahel, and the foreign policy dimension of economic security.

Meetings Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 11:42 | MEETING | Agenda highlights - Eastern Partnership Foreign Affairs Ministerial meeting, 11 December 2023   The Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting will meet in Brussels to exchange views on the Partnership, take stock of its achievements and identify concrete recommendations for the future of the policy.

Press material Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 11:21 | Press release | Net-Zero Industry Act: Council adopts position to boost technologies for the green transition   The Council today adopted its position ('general approach') on a draft regulation establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem, better known as the ‘Net-zero Industry Act’. The main aim of this proposal is accelerating the industrial deployment of critical technologies needed to support the transition to climate neutrality, using the strength of the single market to reinforce Europe’s economic resilience and competitiveness. "With the Net-Zero Industry Act, the European Union aims at achieving a global leadership in the green transition, using the technologies of the future to boost the competitiveness of our industry, create quality jobs and reinforce our open strategic sovereignty." Jordi Hereu Boher, Spanish Minister for Industry and Tourism Paving the way to net-zero technologies The Act proposes to facilitate the conditions for investment based on a list of key technologies, by simplifying the permit granting procedures and prioritizing strategic projects. It also proposes to facilitate the market access of strategic technology products, enhance the skills of the European work force in these promising sectors (notably through the launch of net-zero industry academies) and create a platform to coordinate the EU action in this area. To foster innovation, the net-zero industry act proposes the creation of specific regulatory frameworks for the development, testing and validation of innovative technologies (known as regulatory sandboxes). The Net-Zero Industry Act sets out the indicative benchmark of reaching 40% of production to cover EU’s needs in strategic technology products, like solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, batteries and heat pumps. The proposal also sets out a specific target for CO2 carbon capture and storage, with an annual injection capacity of at least 50 million tonnes of CO2 to be achieved by 2030. Council's mandate The Council position supports the main objectives of the Net-Zero Industry Act, but introduces several improvements, like enlarging the scope of application, clarifying the rules for permit-granting procedures, access to market and public procurement and promoting skills, research and innovation. Scope and lists of technologies As compared to the Commission proposal, the Council position increases the list of strategic net-zero technologies from 8 to 10, by including nuclear and sustainable alternative fuels. It also makes clear that this should not affect neither Member State’s right to determine their energy mix nor the allocation of EU funds during the current multiannual budget. The mandate also enlarges the list of non-strategic net-zero technologies to biotech climate and energy solutions, other nuclear technologies and transformative industrial technologies for energy-intensive industries. Moreover, the Council position includes an Annex with a non-exhaustive list of products and components primarily used for the manufacturing of net-zero technologies. In addition, the mandate foresees a regular evaluation of the regulation in relation to the objectives set, which opens the door to include other relevant technologies in the future. Permit-granting processes Under the Council position, strategic net-zero technologies will benefit from streamlined and realistic permitting procedures and from additional support to crowd-in investments while still meeting EU and international obligations. In addition, the general approach includes the concept of net-zero acceleration areas that will help member states to identify synergies during the permit-granting processes projects. CO2 injection capacity The Council mandate includes CO2 transport and infrastructure in the scope of the provisions for CO2 injection capacity, thus enlarging the value chain for this sector. On the other hand, it excludes small oil and gas producers from their individual contribution to the Union-wide target for available CO2 injection capacity. Public procurement and auctions The general approach clarifies public procurement procedures to ensure secure, transparent, implementable and harmonised requirements for net-zero technologies as well as a diversification in the supply of strategic technologies to the EU, while safeguarding sufficient flexibility for contracting authorities. It clarifies, for instance, in which conditions public authorities can choose a provider that is not the cheapest one if it has a higher contribution to environmental sustainability and resilience of the Member state. As regards auctions, the Council proposal allows Member States to apply both pre-qualification and award criteria. The Commission will define these criteria in an implementing act and will revise the volume auctioned based on an assessment on the functioning of the system. Enhancing skills While recalling that education is a national competence, the Council position supports the broad objectives for European Net-zero Industry Academies to replicate the successful model of the “European batteries academy” in the development and provision of training content adapted to the net-zero industry’s skills needs. Regulatory sandboxes The Council general approach keeps the possibility for member states to establish, at their own initiative, regulatory sandboxes. Start-ups should also benefit from the especial measures foreseen for the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the sandboxes. Background The Net-Zero Industry Act is one of the three key legislative initiatives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, together with the Critical Raw Material Act and the reform of the electricity market design, to enhance the competitiveness of Europe's net-zero industry and support the fast transition to climate neutrality In its conclusions of 26 and 27 October 2023, the heads of state and governments called on the Council and the European Parliament to reach a prompt agreement on the Net-Zero Industry Act, with a view to finalising the new bill before the end of the current legislative cycle. Next steps The general approach agreed today formalises the Council's negotiating position. It provides the Council presidency with a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament, which adopted its own position on 21 November 2023. General approach Commission’s proposal EU industrial policy (background information) European Green Deal (background information)

Press material Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 11:05 | Media advisory | Press briefing - Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 10 and 11 December 2023   The press briefing ahead of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council will take place on Friday, 8 December 2023 at 13.00. This briefing will be "off the record". The press briefing will take place in a hybrid format: EU accredited journalists will be able to participate and ask questions either remotely or in person at the Europa building press room. To attend the event remotely, please use this link to register and have the possibility to ask questions. Those who already registered for the previous press events of Agriculture and Fisheries Council do not need to do it again. Deadline for registration: Friday, 8 December 2023 at 12.00 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants after the deadline.

Documents destinés à la presse jeudi 7 décembre 2023

● Conseil européen   07/12/2023 10:27 | Déclaration et observations | Intervention du président Charles Michel lors de sa rencontre avec le président de la République populaire de Chine, Xi Jinping   Merci Monsieur le Président. Nous souhaitons vous remercier pour votre hospitalité et votre accueil à l'occasion de ce sommet, et nous sommes heureux de vous rencontrer en personne. Comme vous l'avez évoqué, ces derniers mois l'Union européenne et la Chine ont relancé un certain nombre de dialogues de haut niveau sur des sujets importants comme les questions liées au développement économique, au climat ou encore aux droits de l'homme. Et aujourd'hui, nous avons l'occasion de faire le point sur l'état de nos relations et nous espérons donner un nouvel élan à cette coopération entre la Chine et l'Union européenne. Au mois de juin dernier, les 27 chefs d'État ou de gouvernement européens ont tenu un débat stratégique sur la relation entre l'Union européenne et la Chine, et nous sommes unis pour être engagés dans la poursuite d'une relation stable et mutuellement profitable avec la Chine, un engagement et une relation que nous souhaitons fondés sur les principes de transparence, de prévisibilité et de réciprocité. Très naturellement, nous allons aujourd'hui promouvoir nos valeurs européennes, y compris les droits humains et la démocratie. Naturellement, nous allons également défendre nos intérêts légitimes, et nous souhaitons coopérer avec vous sur des sujets mondiaux tels que, par exemple, le climat, les questions de santé et, bien entendu, les questions de sécurité et de stabilité. L'Union européenne et la Chine sont d'importants partenaires commerciaux. Nous souhaitons établir des relations commerciales durables, équilibrées et équitables pour plus de prospérité pour nos populations respectives. Chaque jour, plus de 2 milliards d'euros de biens sont échangés entre la Chine et l'Union européenne. Cependant, le déficit commercial de l'Union européenne s'élève à près de 400 milliards d'euros. Nous souhaitons que des mesures concrètes puissent être discutées et mises en œuvre pour rééquilibrer cette relation. Dans le contexte actuel, nous pensons comme vous que l'Union européenne et la Chine ont une responsabilité d'œuvrer en faveur de la paix et de la stabilité sur la base des principes ancrés dans la charte des Nations unies. Au moment où nous nous parlons, la Russie continue d'agresser l'Ukraine et de violer gravement la charte des Nations unies ainsi que l'intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté de l'Ukraine. Nous souhaitons pouvoir discuter avec vous sur la meilleure manière de résoudre cette situation et de soutenir les principes du droit international. Il y a en ce moment une guerre tragique au Moyen-Orient. Le Hamas a brutalement attaqué le peuple d'Israël. Nous condamnons cette attaque et nous soutenons le droit d'Israël à se défendre. Cela doit se faire conformément au droit international et selon le principe de proportionnalité. La situation humanitaire à Gaza est désastreuse. Nous souhaitons être engagés pour apporter de l'aide humanitaire et pour soutenir une solution politique de paix fondée sur deux États. La paix et la stabilité sont importantes partout, et nous espérons pouvoir coopérer pour encourager l'Iran et les Houthis à ne pas provoquer une escalade régionale. Nous sommes aussi attentifs à la situation en Asie. Nous sommes préoccupés par les tensions croissantes dans le détroit de Taïwan et dans la mer de Chine méridionale et, comme vous le savez, nous sommes opposés à toute tentative unilatérale de modifier le statu quo par la force ou la coercition, et nous maintenons notre position de reconnaissance de la politique d'une seule Chine. Enfin, très rapidement, nous souhaitons continuer de coopérer avec vous pour le changement climatique, pour la santé sur le plan mondial et pour la sécurité alimentaire. La relation entre l'Union européenne et la Chine est une relation large et mature. Nous souhaitons faire preuve de franchise, de transparence, de respect. Nous espérons que ce sommet sera l'occasion de donner des impulsions nouvelles à notre relation sur le plan bilatéral, mais également à notre engagement sur le plan international. Je vous remercie.

Press material Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 10:17 | Media advisory | Press briefing - General Affairs Council of 12 December 2023   The press briefing ahead of the General Affairs Council will take place on Friday, 8 December 2023 at 12.30. This briefing will be "off the record". The press briefing will take place in a hybrid format: EU accredited journalists will be able to participate and ask questions either remotely or in person at the Europa building press room. To attend the event remotely, please use this link to register and have the possibility to ask questions. Those who already registered for previous press events of the General Affairs Council do not need to do it again. Deadline for registration: Friday, 8 December 2023 at 11.30 Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants after the deadline.

Press material Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 07:19 | Media advisory | POSTPONED - Press conference following the trilogue on artificial intelligence   Due to the fact that negotiations are still ongoing, the press conference following the trilogue on artificial intelligence scheduled for 08.00 has been postponed until further notice. More information will follow with the new time.

Meetings Thursday 7 December 2023

● Council of the EU   07/12/2023 12:22 | MEETING | Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 8 December 2023   Background brief - Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 8 December 2023

Press material Wednesday 6 December 2023

● Council of the EU   06/12/2023 21:12 | Press release | European Health Data Space: Council agrees its position   EU member state ambassadors have agreed on the Council’s mandate for a new law that will make it easier to exchange and access health data at EU level. The proposed regulation for a European Health Data Space (EHDS) aims to improve individuals’ access to and control over their personal electronic health data, while also enabling certain data to be reused for research and innovation purposes. It provides for a health-specific data environment that will help foster a single market for digital health services and products. Currently, cross-border access to health data varies across the EU. The new rules aim to make it possible for a Spanish tourist to pick up a prescription in a German pharmacy, or for doctors to access the health information of a Belgian patient undergoing treatment in Italy. "The digitisation of health data in the EU carries potentially vast benefits for patients, medical professionals and the research community, yet so far this potential has not been realised. The mandate agreed on today provides for an EU-wide data space that will enable us to share and access health data safely and efficiently." Mónica García, Spanish Minister for Health Easier access to health data for individuals Under the new rules, individuals will have faster and easier access to electronic health data, regardless of whether they are in their home country or another member state. This will benefit EU citizens by facilitating better informed decisions and the provision of safer healthcare across borders. They will also have greater control over how that data is used. The infrastructure already in place to facilitate the cross-border exchange of electronic health data, MyHealth@EU, will be expanded. EU countries will also be required to set up a digital health authority to implement the new provisions. Greater research potential The EHDS will also provide researchers and policy-makers with access to specific kinds of anonymised, secure health data, enabling them to tap into the vast potential provided by the EU’s health data to inform scientific research, develop better treatments, and improve patient care. A new platform, HealthData@EU, will be established to support cross-border access to health data. At national level, health data access bodies (HDABs) will review requests for access to data and issue data permits. Ensuring interoperability Currently, the level of digitalisation of health data in the EU varies from one member state to another, making it more difficult to share data across member-state borders. The proposed regulation requires all electronic health record (EHR) systems to comply with the specifications of the European electronic health record exchange format, ensuring that they are interoperable at EU level. The Council’s position The mandate agreed upon today develops the Commission’s proposal in a number of key areas: greater clarity: the Council’s mandate provides clarity on issues such as the scope of the regulation, alignment with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the criteria for providing access to electronic health data steering groups: in its mandate, the Council proposes the creation of two steering groups, made up of member-state representatives, to manage MyHealth@EU and HealthData@EU; other stakeholders may be invited as observers to discuss relevant issues governance: the mandate expands the role of EU member states in the proposed EHDS governing board and requires national digital health authorities to publish an activity report every two years EHRs: under the Council’s mandate, the European electronic health record exchange format may have separate national and cross-border profiles opting out: member states will have the discretion to allow patients to opt out of the new data-sharing system The mandate also delays the application of the regulation to two years following its entry into force. Next steps The EU Council presidency now has a mandate to begin negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as possible, with a view to reaching a provisional agreement on the proposed regulation. The Parliament is expected to finalise its position on 13 December 2023. Background On 3 May 2022 the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation creating a European Health Data Space (EHDS). The proposal is the first of nine European sector- and domain-specific data spaces set out by the Commission in its 2020 communication, ‘A European strategy for data’. The aim of the EHDS is to make it easier to access and exchange health data across borders, both to support healthcare delivery (‘primary use of data’) and inform health research and policy-making (re-use of data, also referred to as ‘secondary use of data’). It is considered a key pillar of the European Health Union. EU health policy (background information)

Press material Wednesday 6 December 2023

● Council of the EU   06/12/2023 13:58 | Press release | Capital markets Union: Council reaches agreement on improvements to EU clearing services   The Council adopted today a mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament on a review of the European market infrastructure regulation and directive. The review aims to make the EU clearing landscape more attractive and resilient, to support the EU’s open strategic autonomy and to preserve the EU’s financial stability. The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) lays down rules on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, central counterparties (CCPs) and trade repositories. The proposed EMIR review contains several legislative measures to improve EU clearing services, notably by streamlining and shortening procedures, improving consistency between rules, strengthening CCP supervision and requiring market participants subject to a clearing obligation to clear a portion of the products, which have been identified by ESMA as of substantial systemic importance, through active accounts at EU CCPs. Main changes brought by the Council The Council ensured that in practice it is feasible for supervisory authorities to apply streamlined supervisory processes, such as authorisation and validation procedures. It strengthened the role of supervisory frameworks, while ensuring an appropriate division of tasks between national authorities establishing coordination at European level, in particular by establishing a Joint Monitoring Mechanism and providing ESMA with a coordination role in cross-border emergency situations. The Council set a solid active account requirement (AAR) that will require certain financial and non-financial counterparties to have an account at an EU CCP, which includes operational elements such as the ability to handle the counterparty’s transactions at short notice if need be and activity elements so that the account is effectively used. This is ensured by a number of requirements, which have to be fulfilled by these accounts, including requirements for counterparties above a certain threshold to clear trades in the most relevant sub-categories of derivatives of substantial systemic importance defined in terms of class of derivative, size and maturity. Background and next steps Derivatives play an important role in the economy, but they also bring certain risks. This was demonstrated during the 2008 financial crisis, when significant weaknesses in the OTC derivatives markets became evident. In 2012 the EU adopted the European market infrastructure regulation (EMIR). The aim was to: increase transparency in the OTC derivatives markets mitigate credit risk reduce operational risk The Commission presented a proposal on 7 December 2022 to review European market infrastructure regulation and directive in order to make our clearing landscape more attractive. The review aims at: streamlining and shortening procedures for authorities to approve new activities or services as well as changes to risk models for CCPs, to make them more attractive to market participants improve consistency between rules for banks and other pieces of financial sector legislation. This aims at allowing also e.g. insurance companies and funds to benefit from incentives (such as lower capital requirements) when clearing through an EU CCP strengthening CCP supervision by establishing joint supervisory teams for certain tasks, facilitating the monitoring of cross-border risks to the EU throughout the clearing chain by the EU authorities that are part of the EU system of financial supervision and giving emergency powers to ESMA's CCP supervisory committee requiring market participants subject to a clearing obligation to clear a portion of the products that have been identified by ESMA as of substantial systemic importance through active accounts at EU CCPs enhancing powers of banks’ and investment firms’ supervisors to address concentration risk form exposures to CCPs simplifying equivalence assessments under EMIR where risks involved in clearing in a third country are particularly low Council negotiating mandate on EMIR Regulation Council negotiating mandate on EMIR Directive Capital markets union (background information)

Press material Wednesday 6 December 2023

● Council of the EU   06/12/2023 13:37 | Press release | Daisy Chains: Council and Parliament reach agreement   The Council and the European Parliament today reached a provisional political agreement on the Daisy Chains proposal. The proposal is a targeted amendment of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive or (BRRD) and the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation or (SRMR) to include targeted proportionality requirements to the treatment of ‘internal MREL’ in bank resolution groups. Effective resolution The BRRD requires banks and other credit institutions established in the EU to meet a minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (‘MREL’) to ensure an effective and credible application of the bail-in tool. Failure to meet MREL may negatively impact institutions' loss absorption and recapitalisation capacity and, ultimately, the overall effectiveness of resolution. Where an MREL instrument is issued by a subsidiary within a banking group and directly or indirectly subscribed by its parent company, it is referred to as ‘internal MREL’. Under indirect subscription, the intermediate subsidiary must deduct its holdings of internal MREL from its own funds to ensure the integrity and loss absorbency of the MREL instruments. New rules to avoid disproportionate effects After analysis, the Commission found that the application of the deduction requirement on internal MREL could have a disproportionate detrimental impact for certain banking group structures, namely those operating under a parent holding company and certain operating company structures. The Daisy Chains proposal aims to give the resolution authorities the power of setting internal MREL on a consolidated basis subject to certain conditions. Where the resolution authority allows a banking group to apply such consolidated treatment, the intermediate subsidiaries will not be obliged to deduct their individual holdings of internal MREL, thus preventing the detrimental effect identified by the Commission. In addition, the proposal introduces a specific MREL treatment for ‘liquidation entities’. Those are defined as entities within a banking group earmarked for winding-up in accordance with insolvency laws, which would, therefore, not be subject to resolution action (conversion or write-down of MREL instruments). On this basis and as a rule, liquidation entities would not be obliged to comply with an MREL requirement, unless the resolution authority decides otherwise on a case-by-case basis for financial stability protection reasons. The own funds of these liquidation entities issued to the intermediate entities will not need to be deducted except when they represent a material share of the own funds and eligible liabilities of the intermediate entity. The provisional text agreed between the Council and the European Parliament clarify the concept and scope of liquidation entities and provide further detail on the conditions for the application of the consolidated treatment of internal MREL. Next steps The agreement found today is provisional and needs to be confirmed by member states’ representatives in the Committee of permanent representatives (COREPER) and by the European Parliament. Once endorsed, the legal text will be consolidated and formally voted in the European Parliament and the Council. The text will then be published in the Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later. The rules will start applying six months later. Background On the 18 April the European Commission adopted a legislative package known as the reform of the Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance framework (‘CMDI’) setting out amendments to Directive 2014/59/EU (the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive or ‘BRRD’) and to Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 (the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation or ‘SRMR’). As part of the CMDI package the Commission also adopted a targeted amendment of the BRRD and of the SRMR as a separate legal instrument (the ‘Daisy Chains proposal’) to address specific issues on the treatment of ‘internal MREL’ The Council reached agreement on the proposal on 17 November 2023. The Daisy Chains proposal, was presented as a self-standing legal instrument for the co-legislators to fast-track its adoption ahead of the remainder of the CMDI review proposals. Council negotiating mandate for the Daisy Chains Directive Adoption note for the Council negotiating mandate for the Daisy Chains Directive Commission proposal on BRRD Commission proposal on SRMR Banking union (background information)