1. Summary
President von der Leyen has put Europe's sustainable prosperity and competitiveness at the top of her political agenda for the period 2024-2029, committing to the publication of a Clean Industrial Deal within the first 100 days of the new European Commission term. Its presentation is scheduled for 26 February 2025. The document will build on the EU's work on the transition to a sustainable economy and will focus on strengthening industry and increasing competitiveness in this context. It will build on existing rules, including those proposed under the Green Deal Industrial Plan, such as the reform of the European electricity market, the NZIA or the act to secure the supply of key raw materials that Europe needs for its green and digital transformation.
2. Activities of the BSP
BSP — together with its members — prepared a joint position, which was published and discussed, among others, at events organized by BSP “A Clean Industrial Deal: What's in it for industry? What's in it for climate?” and “Competitiveness and... New Spirit of Lawmaking - Simplification and Better Regulation”. These events brought together policymakers, experts, industry representatives, think tanks, NGOs and innovators. The BSP and its members have identified 7 key postulates that should be covered by the Clean Industrial Deal:
- Technological neutrality and support for local sources of energy production
- Support for high-carbon regions
- Support of energy-intensive sectors
- Financial support (including access to attractive financial products
- Support of local supply chains and expansion of national industrial bases
- Dialogue with industry
- Simplification and acceleration of investment processes and reduction of barriers, among others by revising selected regulations
Currently, the BSP is carrying out activities to promote the demands of the BSP members among the representatives of the EU institutions in Brussels. To this end, the BSP organized, among other things, a meeting with the European Commission's CID development department, during which the individual requests of the BSP members were presented in more detail.
3. Details
The Commissioner responsible for drafting the Clean Industrail Deal is Stéphane Séjourné, the EC's Executive Vice-President for Welfare and Industrial Strategy, who, together with the Executive Vice-President for Clean, Fair and Competitive Transformation Teresa Ribera Rodríguez and other members of the College, will work on a set of initiatives aimed at, inter alia, access to energy and raw materials, non-energy. additional burdens, access to skills and technologies, simplification of administrative processes, creation of an integrated policy industrial development, strengthening the single market and ensuring equal opportunities and mobilising private finance for transformation and leveraging partnerships.
During the hearings of the candidates for commissioners, Wopke Hoekstra mentioned that the CID would be about simplifications and easier obtaining permits, as well as unlocking the resources of both public and private capital. It will also include provisions for upskilling and retraining of employees. The aim of CID is to find a balance between climate impact and economic impact. Stéphane Séjourné drew attention to the social dimension of the Clean Industrial Deal, stressing that it would contribute to improving workers' rights, workers' protection and working conditions. On the other hand, Jessica Roswall pointed out that a key element of CID will be the circular economy.
In its work on the Clean Industrial Deal, the Commission plans to focus on:
- developing a Competitiveness Coordination Tool to guide EU policies and investments
- levelling the playing field for EU industry through the use of public procurement, foreign direct investment controls and the EU export credit facility, as well as strengthening action against unfair trading practices and circumvention
- support the clean transformation of the industries most affected by the ETS price
- act on decarbonization accelerator