Speeches

– Mr President, honourable Members, thank you for this discussion and for your relevant comments. Europe faces huge socioeconomic challenges linked to green and digital transitions that require forward-looking approaches. With the new European Research Area (ERA) the Commission proposes an ambitious policy framework, and its implementation is our top priority. This implementation will require joint efforts. We have identified a number of key actions that will be closely monitored and will benefit from appropriate and concerted measures. All the issues discussed are of strategic importance, and we will continue to work towards a pact for research and innovation that sets out ambitious targets, a pact that defends the EU’s common principles and values in research innovation, a pact that establishes an effective policy coordination and monitoring process to support the implementation of national ERA policies. Moreover, the new European Research Area will improve the free circulation of knowledge and help all Member States improve their research and innovation capacities. Finally, a new European Research Area will also require better coordination, including of the actions of the Member States in order to achieve greater impact and better results.

– Mr President, I would like to thank honourable Members because the oral question they raise today gives me the opportunity to present the ongoing actions in a number of areas identified in our communication on the European Research Area (ERA) last year. First of all, the Commission attaches the highest importance to research careers, as researchers and their activity are fundamental for the full implementation of a reinforced European Research Area, and for the development, growth and resilience of our society. We have already started working on the update of the definition of the taxonomy of researchers’ skills and on the update of the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) classification. We intend to complete this work by the end of this year. In particular, the Commission is developing a list of researchers’ skills and occupations to be included in the ESCO classification with a view to improve the representation of the research profession. The new taxonomy will be transposed at national level for the European mobility portal, EURES, and it will be used by Europass for all the services the new platform provides. Both initiatives will contribute to a better recognition of the research profession and will provide the necessary conditions for researchers at all career stages, including young ones, to be equipped with the skills and competencies they need for a successful career. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions will remain the main EU instrument for researchers’ career development and mobility. The new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions further emphasise the role of excellent doctoral training programmes beyond academia, as well as the involvement of other sectors, namely businesses and SMEs, in order to ensure better career prospects for early career researchers. Another important element of the toolbox will be the ERA for You initiative. Currently at the design stage, this mobility scheme is designed to support exchanges between industry and academia and to encourage researchers towards entrepreneurship. The one—stop—shop portal, based on the new current EURAXESS services network and portal, will also be developed to help researchers with all their needs. The ERA Talent Platform will have enhanced features to make it more usable, more interactive and better fit for the purpose. As regards the academic freedom, the new ERA communication underlined the Commission’s intention to propose a Pact for Research and Innovation Europe. One of the objectives of the pact is to provide a renewed political impulse of the European Research Area by reaffirming the commitment of the Member States to the values and principles of the ERA, including academic freedom. The recently adopted communication on the global approach to research and innovation also identifies academic freedom as one of the fundamental values that the EU and its Member States should promote and protect internationally. Further work in developing and promoting principles for international cooperation in research and innovation will be carried out in the recently created ERA Forum for Transition. Second, the oral question also looks at how private investments in R&I can be encouraged in order to accelerate the green and digital transitions and foster a resilient and socially equitable recovery. The Commission has proposed the ambitious but realistic target of achieving public R&I investment at European level of 1.25% of GDP by 2030. In the context of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Semester, the Commission engages in in-depth policy dialogues with the Member States with the aim of supporting structural reforms and fostering investments. The Commission regularly monitors R&I reforms and investments in the context of the European Semester and ERA. Preparatory work is being conducted for an ERA scoreboard, which will monitor the relevant dimensions of the ERA, including investments. The last point raised in the oral question concerns the narrowing of the gap in R&I. Research and innovation are critical to boosting the resilience of Europe’s societies and economies, and to supporting Europe’s competitive leadership in the global race for technology. Therefore, Europe needs to bridge the persistent innovation divide. Member States have the possibility to invest in R&I policies and reforms with support from the cohesion policy or the Recovery and Resilience Facility should they make this a priority in their plans. But place—based policies alone are not enough to close the innovation divide. In this context, Horizon Europe, in synergy with the other EU programmes, will continue measures targeting lower R&I performing countries through its Widening Participation programme, which will benefit from an increase in funding to almost EUR 3 billion for the period 2021—2027. A Reinforced Regional Innovation Scheme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology will also be available for the 2021—2027 period. In Horizon Europe, traditional actions to widen participation will be combined with measures to promote brain circulation, improve the quality of the proposal of legal entities from less performing countries, boost the activities of national contact points developing matching services, promote excellence initiatives, and enjoy ongoing R&I collaborative projects. Synergies between all EU funding programmes for R&I and with national and regional funding schemes are encouraged and will become more simplified than in the past. Finally, the Commission has also set up a number of instruments, such as the Horizon Policy Support Facility and the Technical Support Instrument to assist countries to define and implement necessary R&I reforms and enhance policy learning across policymakers.

– Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much for your encouraging interventions and for this very interesting debate tonight. I have taken a very good note of your comments and of the large support around the draft report adopted by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and now tabled for adoption by this House. Let me briefly reply to some issues you raised and complement some of the points I already mentioned in my introductory remarks. Many of you mentioned beyond GDP indicators. GDP is a key indicator of economic performance and essential in key policy fields. However, it cannot be the main indicator to measure societal progress, sustainability and resilience. We made much progress in developing alternative measurement. New concepts are being tested and increasingly used for policymaking at regional, national and international level. The OECD Wellbeing Index is a good example. At EU level, our new resilience dashboard developed as part of strategic foresight is nearly exclusively composed of beyond GDP indicators, and our work on an Eighth EAP monitoring framework will also provide a new opportunity. So technically we have come far and we are well equipped to go beyond GDP. Now it’s up to us all to make this happen and to ensure that decisions on EU societal progress fully take into account the concerns of European citizens and capture sustainable development in its three dimensions. Also, several of you mentioned targets to phase out fuel and energy subsidies. I took note of the interventions related to some of the targets you propose to include into the enabling framework or to commitments to establish such targets. Well, our proposal already included a general commitment to phase out environmentally harmful subsidies. We will look carefully into the question of whether new commitments are necessary, and if so, whether they should be included in the Eighth EAP or in dedicated sector—specific instruments. Thank you once again for tonight’s debate and for your work on this important file, and I truly look forward to successful negotiations in the coming months so that we can make swift progress and minimise the gap between the Seventh and the Eighth EAP. Our experts stands ready to start first technical discussions as soon as possible, after the adoption of Parliament’s mandate for negotiations, to prepare for the first political trilogue in early September, and the Commission will of course assist the co—legislators throughout the process in order to facilitate an agreement.

– Madam President, let me first of all thank the rapporteur, Ms O’Sullivan, and of course all the shadow rapporteurs and the entire Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), as well as the opinion-giving Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) for their important work and efforts on this file over the last weeks and months. Environment action programmes (EAPs) have guided the development of EU environmental policies since the early 1970s. The previous programme, the 7th EAP, expired at the end of 2020 and the Commission’s proposal for the next EAP, which we adopted in October last year, now covers the next decade until 2030. Its vocation is to accelerate the Union’s transition to a climate-neutral, resource-efficient, clean and circular economy in a just and inclusive manner. The 8th programme also sets a long-term priority objective for 2050 to ensure well-being for all, while staying within the planetary boundaries, and promotes a regenerative economy that gives back to the planet more than it takes. It reflects our joint commitment to the European Green Deal, which outlines the EU’s environmental and climate objectives. As such, it’s another important building block in our efforts to deliver on the commitments made in the European Green Deal and on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 8th EAP proposes a deal to all our institutions. It supports the delivery of the Union’s environmental and climate objectives with a focus on implementation at all levels of governance and on the monitoring of progress. My services and I have closely followed the discussions on the Commission proposal for the next EAP so far, and we take good note of the amendments tabled in view of tonight’s and tomorrow’s plenary vote. While formally reserving the Commission’s position at this stage of the legislative procedure, I would nevertheless like to share with you some general remarks. The Commission very much appreciate your efforts to respect the lean approach we propose and to ensure that the priority objectives for this decade are ambitious, yet focused. We will carefully analyse the additional ideas you propose to support the green transition taking root on the ground. Some avenues you suggest are already under way, such as the mainstreaming of the SDGs into our better regulation policy and instruments. In our Better Regulation communication from April of this year, we committed to identify relevant SDGs for each proposal and to examine how a new initiative will support their achievement. Links to the SDGs will be included from evaluations and impact assessments. Looking at some of your amendments related to the enablers and legally binding commitments or actions the Commission shall take, I need, however, to be very clear. We must be careful about the legal basis of the proposal, which is limited to environment and climate policies. This means the 8th EAP cannot cover questions for which the Treaty provides a dedicated legal base, and it goes without saying that the provisions of the 8th environmental action programme should also be without prejudice to the Commission’s right of initiative, which is enshrined in our Treaties. I acknowledge Parliament’s efforts to identify an alternative option on the mid-term review than the one proposed by the Council, but still we have to be cautious not to go too far in prescribing what the next Commission, after 2024, has to do, how and when. We also appreciate your strong interest in monitoring of progress and your call to clarify the articulation between the different tools to monitor progress towards our environmental and climate objectives. We take note that you propose a further cross—cutting tool. It’s important to discuss the purpose and the use of each of these tools in order to avoid any duplication. In the context of the upcoming trilogues, we will therefore be particularly interested in better understanding what exactly you aim to capture with the set of Beyond GDP indicators, as those could be numerous depending on the definition of Beyond GDP. Finally, let me recall that the main rules guiding the relations between the Commission and the co—legislators are set out in the interinstitutional agreement on better law-making, which defines the boundaries of the relationship between our institutions. This also includes issues like impact assessment and stakeholder consultation or annual and multiannual interinstitutional programming. The 8th EAP should therefore be in line with our interinstitutional agreement and not include further commitments going beyond. Honourable Members, I look forward to listening to your views and comments tonight, and I can reassure you that the Commission is ready to discuss with the co—legislators and play its role as an honest broker during the upcoming trilogues.

– Madam President, honourable Members, thank you very much for this rich debate, which has shown support for our new fund. To conclude, let me underline the following two key principles. First, in the same way as all the other sectoral funds under the multiannual framework for 2021-2027, the EMFAF will contribute to the European Green Deal. It will support the protection of biodiversity and the full transition to low-impact and sustainable fishing and aquaculture in line with our biodiversity strategy and the common fisheries policy. And second, public support through the EMFAF should deliver maximum collective added value. It should support market failures and suboptimal investment situations, but not duplicate or replace private financing. Instead, EMFAF should facilitate and complement private investment, especially where the private sector is profitable, like the maritime economy in general is. In this context, I see a clear need to use financial instruments in addition to traditional direct grants. Indeed, loans and guarantees can maximise private investments with minimum public support, in particular for energy-efficiency technologies, selective fishing gear and production facilities in the aquaculture and processing sectors. I am looking forward to the final and formal adoption of our fund by the co-legislators. Our attention will then shift to the timely adoption of the national programmes which Member States are currently preparing. As I said before, it is of the utmost importance that these national programmes deliver maximum added value, in particular as regards their contribution to the green and digital transitions and to stronger resilience of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. The action supported in this respect must address strategic needs and deliver clear results. With a fund as small as the EMFAF, it is particularly important that every euro invested generates much more in terms of collective benefits and common good. Let’s make the best use of it to address our key challenges and make it a success.

– Madam President, honourable Members, first of all, let me thank the two rapporteurs, Mr Mato and Mr Millán Mon, as well as, of course, all shadow rapporteurs and the entire Fisheries Committee (PECH) for their good cooperation. Although not present today, my thanks also goes to the former German Presidency, which was instrumental in securing the final agreement last December. The negotiations on the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, the so-called EMFAF, were long and intense. They involved three presidencies and they were not always easy. But in the end, the outcome was good and balanced, which reflected our joint determination to reach an agreement and avoid major delays. Of course, each of the institutions had to compromise. But as we know, compromise is the essence of democracy. I have always been frank that the text is not perfect. The Commission would definitely have preferred a lower financial cap for fleet measures to secure more funding for core priorities such as sustainable fishing, fisheries control, collection of scientific data, innovation or local development. And as several of you said today, we had clearly hoped for a specific binding target or financial ring-fencing for climate objectives or for the protection of biodiversity. But overall, the result was a satisfactory one. I want to explicitly underline the importance of this agreement. First, because in the next decade, with all the challenges it will bring, we will have a new fund to support our fisheries, aquaculture, coastal areas and the blue economy. The post-Brexit and COVID-19 context has put the resilience of our maritime sectors to the test, and the EMFAF will help in finding solutions. Second, because the EMFAF will deliver on the objectives of the European Green Deal as regards the protection of marine biodiversity, the full transition to sustainable and low impact fishing and aquaculture, and contribute to our decarbonisation goals. In this context, as the Commission committed in the statement that accompanies the agreed text, let me be very clear: we will actively encourage Member States to reach the overall ambition in terms of annual spending under the multiannual framework to tackle biodiversity loss. And we will monitor this both during the programming process and during implementation. Where this monitoring shows insufficient progress, we will engage with Member States to adopt remedial measures, including programme amendments. Last but not least, in the end, we have managed to avoid harmful fisheries subsidies. The EMFAF now only contains subsidies that contribute positively to the Common Fisheries Policy and to our Green Deal objectives. This was my commitment during my confirmation hearing before this House in 2019 and I am glad to see that together we managed to achieve this. Nothing in the EMFAF increases the overall fishing capacity of the fleet, contributes to overfishing or encourages illegal fishing. This would have been totally unacceptable for the Commission and for me personally. I therefore welcome the balance we found between investing in the needs of the fleet and including the necessary safeguards to avoid overcapacity and overfishing. I know that some question this interpretation, but I am truly convinced that the EU can negotiate on fisheries subsidies at the World Trade Organization with clean hands. The agreement you will endorse this week puts us in a very good position to eliminate harmful subsidies worldwide and ensure a global level playing field. This, above all, is in the interests of EU fisheries. The new EMFAF will be geared towards the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources in line with our commitment under Sustainable Development Goal 14. It will help us make further progress towards sustainable fisheries. It will promote low impact and low carbon fishing techniques. It will support conservation, management and control measures, underpinned by scientific knowledge. The new EMFAF will also contribute to the sector’s economic and social sustainability. In this regard, the EMFAF will enable investments and innovation and support the development of the skills of our fishermen and women, as well as their safety, which are key enablers for profitability and resilience. The COVID-19 crisis has indeed shown how important it is to increase the resilience of our fishing sector. The EMFAF will also support the digital transition of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. IT and artificial intelligence are not only relevant for new emerging sectors but also traditional ones. The EMFAF precisely aims to unlock their potential and create new business opportunities in the long term. Digital tools will also contribute to modern, efficient and user-friendly fisheries control and traceability systems and are key for ensuring a level playing field for fishers across the EU. I am also satisfied with the results we achieved on small-scale coastal fishing. Even if the initial Commission proposal of a dedicated action plan was not retained, the national programmes will have to address the specific needs of small-scale vessels and develop adequate actions. And I can only reassure you that the Commission will analyse these elements very carefully when assessing the programme prepared by Member States. A key novelty in this EMFAF, compared with the previous fund, is the strategic approach for the outermost regions. The fund will continue to compensate the additional costs stemming from the specific situation of these regions and, in addition, will put in place the conditions for a profitable and sustainable blue economy. The EMFAF will not only contribute to sustainability in the EU, but dedicated funds will also be available to finance EU action on international ocean governance. Last but not least, I want to highlight the significant simplification. Compared with the previous fund, the new framework will be much less prescriptive on eligibility rules and will focus on results. Member States will have more flexibility and with it more responsibility to develop the actions that best respond to their needs. Simplification and monitoring go hand-in-hand and, in this respect, I want to thank the European Parliament for having defended a robust monitoring and evaluation framework. To conclude, the new EMFAF is a key financial tool to ensure that our fisheries and aquaculture sectors will manage the transition towards a green and digital future in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. We will now monitor and accompany the implementation of the fund very closely to ensure that its objectives are achieved. And I look forward to its final adoption by the European Parliament. Thank you very much for your cooperation and for your attention.