Government of France

Policy topics Government of France is active on

What Government of France has said (80)

• 2026-07-13 “54:55 - 10:58:41): Thank you very much, Martin, and I wish you all the best in your presidency. I'd like to thank the commission for publishing these very long waited 2 strategies. Livestock and protein sectors are essential and complementary for sustainable agriculture and for strengthening European strategic autonomy. They play a fundamental role in our capacity to reduce our external dependencies in mineral fertilizers, plant proteins, and animal feed. And that includes integrating more legumes into production systems and developing polyculture, livestock systems, and having livestock in all territories. I'd like to flag 1 point which is of major importance for the competitiveness of European agriculture. Our policies must be consistent with each other including trade policy. Therefore, an ambitious reciprocity agenda needs to be rolled out so that our production standards can be applied to import specifically. With regard to the livestock strategy, it's clear this sector is essential to our sovereignty, including in the outermost regions, but livestock numbers are declining because the work is not sufficiently attractive or well paid. To buck this trend, we must focus on ensuring fair pay for farmers. And to do this, we must use the various CAP aids, basic payment, coupled aids, and others. The same is true of prices paid by consumers and the fair distribution of value throughout the production chain. We must also make better use of services provided by sustainable livestock farming up over and above additional costs. So we must not just focus, recognize the effects on decarbonization and animal welfare, but also the key role in maintaining grasslands and opening up landscapes. Regarding animal welfare, I call for a fair balance to be struck between meeting society's expectations and the feasibility of these sectors. On animal health, I welcome the commission's guidelines. Given the proliferation of episodic diseases, vaccination must become a pillar of our health policy. There are many of our livestock sectors which are particularly sensitive to international competition and trade concessions granted over time, which are also sometimes subject to retaliatory measures. We must therefore protect them. And that goes hand in hand with strengthening the country of origin labeling that I would like to see. Coming to the protein plan, France shares the commission's ambition to strengthen innovation and research for proteins, value chains, and sectors in various uses. We need particularly to look at amino acids and additives more broadly to defend our strategic autonomy in this key sector for, Europe. I'm thinking here particularly of mobilizing, public funds and here the European preference for food in the review of the directive on CMO. In the future common organization of the markets, I call for the operational programs for protein crops to also cover oilseeds because sunflower and rapeseed can partly replace the soybeans that we import too much of. Lastly, as regards Ukraine's production capacity, this potential lever should not slow down the adoption of ambitious measures from today to support of European production that we need. Thank you.”
  EU policy on country of origin food labelling · Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU · Import of agri-food products in the EU
• 2026-07-13 “Thank you Martin. And I'd like to thank Italy for having raised this important point that France fully supports in the deteriorated geopolitical contexts that our agri food chains are going through. The Commission has an increasingly important role to play, so we need to step up our efforts to make sure that we have a position on markets and that this can be sustainable with exports. Without this support, we won't be able to fully lever the benefits that we have in trade agreements, and we need to support sensitive sectors in having value for their products, as well as sectors where there are retaliatory trade measures. As a result. Commissioner, I invite the Commission to mobilise all maneuvering room that it has to do whatever it can in the 2027 budget, using all resources available.”
  Export of EU agri-food products
• 2026-07-10 “11:17 - 11:13:54): Simon, Gorev Baragat, Centemire Forca. I know everyone is fluent in Irish, so it means thank you, and welcome to the presidency. There was a great football game yesterday in which the 1st half was hot but still prepared for the 2nd half. So I would like to thank Wormy and Mackie for having a great 1st half on the discussion on this subject. And I hope that we're just going to score a few goals in the 2nd half led by Simon. I think I'd like to start by saying we're doing all of this not to please ourselves. We're doing all of this not to please our teams. We're not doing all of this to please our regulatory bodies. We're not even doing all of this to please or make our financial institutions better. We're doing all of this because we want Europe to be at the forefront of the technological revolution, of the green industry revolution. We want to embrace the new geopolitical order by being stronger in our defense policy. And for this, for all of this and at the end of the day, for our citizens to be better off, we need this. So we mustn't forget the ultimate goal of what we're doing together because sometimes in those very technical subjects and also in these very institutional subject in which vested interest can get in the way, sometimes we tend to forget what we're doing all of this for. And I'm going to commit myself to any position we're going to take as the French delegation to always keep that in mind and to try sometimes to overcome vested interest that we have. It's the same logic that I think echo Lars, Andres, Carlos, Giancarlo and myself have put together when we put together papers that hopefully will contribute to the discussion of this. And when I looked at your program, at your working program, Simon, I like the way you said at the end of the day, it's about enhancing competitiveness. It's about protecting our values and it's about ensuring our security. And those 3 can go hand in hand together. We can improve competitiveness. We can protect our values and we can enhance our security. And this is what it's about as well. So I fully agree with your ambition and your timetable, both go hand in hand. We shouldn't sacrifice 1 to the other. We can have a deal by October, and it has to be an ambitious deal. And I'm sure we can do it, and we can do it together.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• 2026-07-10 “13:58 - 11:15:22): Well, I'll say a few words in French on some of the topics that are still open and that I think are important. The presidency note, does identify the key points in an exhaustive manner, so I fully agree on those points. And I'd just like to focus on 3 that we think are a priority. 1st of all, the ambition of, direct scope direct supervision by ESMA. It needs to be as strong as possible. The scope needs to cover all market segments. Integration cannot go without supervision, and this the the credibility of this package is at stake. Supervision by ESMA for systemic or track cross border entities will allow for a level playing field and more effective supervision. Secondly, ESMA governance. This has been said by a number of speakers. If our markets are to prosper, ESMA must be efficient so that centralized supervision leads to rapid effective decisions being taken. We can clarify the role of the board of supervisors without, altering the pragmatic balance that has been proposed by the commission. And this has already been said too. The DOT pilot, regime on blockchain, that's gonna be crucial to develop tokenization in the European Union to boost, Europe's financial sovereignty and competitiveness. The letter and reggae reports, focused on, the long term prospects for the the report for the markets. Let's, share that ambition, and look to the long term. Thank you.”
  Financial regulation
• 2026-06-29 “Thank you very much, chair. As you have said, the formal adoption of the of the revision by the co-legislators 11823. It will constitute a significant advance for the mobility of workers. This will move towards the more balanced indemnisation. Indemnisation of cross-border workers and we would like to thank the Cypriot, the Cyprus presidency and all the stakeholders involved for its work that has made it possible to adopt an agreement concerning two structuring elements. First of all, the unemployment benefits for cross-border workers as well as outsourced workers. Thank you very much.”
  EU regulation of cross-border and posted workers
• 2026-06-29 “Thank you very much, chair. The best protection against poverty is and still is employment. People who are working should be able to live decently from their jobs. Social policies need to facilitate access to the labour market. Our social welfare system relieves people of some of the fears of the major risks of life, like illness, and the ultimate social safety net is the minimum wage, which guarantees subsistence and housing needs are met. Combating poverty in Austria is something we can only achieve together. The federal government, the state or lender, and municipalities have to work closely together. Austria's federal structure is challenging for coordination, but it's also a strength. It allows us to position social services close to people and respond to local needs. We need to provide targeted support where there are gaps in coverage. One example of this is a newly introduced kind of support for single parents, and that's a social group that's particularly hit by poverty. If we are to fight poverty successfully, we are also going to need financial resources. So Austria supports there being an effective European social fund in the next MFF. Now, automatic verification and award of claims, of course, is the best way to get take up in Austria. That is how things work when you apply for a pension. If you're pensionable, income is below a certain threshold, then a supplement will be triggered. Latest figures available for Austria as a whole show that the take up of social assistance that needs to be applied for was around 70%. That was in 2015. For high take up. Our experience tells us that the following measures are needed clear and, where possible, multilingual information provision, transparent and easily accessible application processes and finally reducing stigmatisation of people in poverty. Thank you.”
  EU expenditure on social policy
• 2026-06-29 “Thank you chair. France has also noted the increasing growth of access to housing, namely for students. This has several disadvantages. First of all, there are. They are looking for small homes in urban areas. Now there are social housing systems in place that have allowed for 10,000 new students to be to be housed, and 13,000 the following year. There is a priority that is now given to those who have a grant. 20% of the 3 million higher education students now affording affordable housing for students is something that is supported mainly by the social sector, namely the college system. In a 2017, there was a free rental guarantee that has enabled access to housing for students as well as others under certain conditions. Now, as to middle income houses, there is an intermediate section with rents that are lower than the average, but you have to be eligible to these. And there's also social housing. France will also provide access to um purchasing, purchasing homes with a 0% mortgages that can be accessible, accessed by eligible households. There is also a system in place according to which affordable housing will be built. However, the member states were going to have to act in their own countries in order to release the administrative burden, as well as a focus on issues relating to urban planning. The European Union has to continue supporting the Member States in their efforts in order to solve this problem via, namely, the Pan European Investment Fund. Thank you.”
  EU policy on urban development
• 2026-06-29 “Yes. Thank you. Chair. Mobility is a pillar of our union. Now, this agreement will be a step forward towards a Europe that protects and facilitates mobility and makes professional pathways more secure. The exchange of data is now a priority. It's important for the economic situation to understand it, to understand the cross-border movements, and also to understand the skills needed in companies. So strengthening this data exchange would also make it easier to avoid fraud and put people's in the right place. So digital tools could be an excellent lever, and unemployment benefits must also be in an easier system. To avoid that there is fraud. We need dematerialization in order to facilitate the life of workers. We need the European passport, and we need to look at all possibilities in order to guarantee complementarity between European instruments and national ones, and to guarantee a correct Social Security coverage. The package must consider the new types of mobility cross-border teleworking, and it must consider fragmented working through independent workers because we risk fraud and the hybrid workforces are also at risk and we need to strengthen control. We need to exploit all the possibilities in order to adapt to the challenges that the Member States have recognized. Thank you.”
  Regulation of teleworking labour conditions
• 2026-06-26 “55:15 - 11:56:28): President, thank you. France takes note of the draft recommendations from the commission calling on member states to suspend penalties for 3 years under the methane regulation. It's a recommendation which is fully in line with the approach supported and, advocated by France, which allows us to implement the regulation in a programmatic way without reopening the text. That's something which we have fought for. We intend to use this additional flexibility. However, certain clarifications could nonetheless be useful in order to enhance legal certainty of this recommendation. In this regard, the exception for fraudulent large scale infractions of uncertain characteristics is 1 which needs to be further defined or deleted. More broadly, France calls on the commission to finalize the necessary acts and methodologies as soon as possible for the implementation of the regulation. A number of essential methodologies, for example, are still to be clarified. For example, the emission quantification methodology from coal and the 3rd party verification methodology. France is fully mobilized and happy to work with the commission and other member states to make progress on these various issues. Thank you. Thank you. Latvia, Greece, Romania.”
  Natural gas
• 2026-06-26 “02:28 - 11:05:22): Thank you very much. France, fully supports the development of interconnectors and strengthening the electricity market in Europe. I welcome the work of the Cyprus presidency, which has allowed a significant development in the text. Discussions have led to various avenues to pursue. We need to respond to our concerns, and I would underscore this. We need to have governance of European planning, looking at national sensitivities. This is obligatory. We also need to look at the energy mix and the that's a good thing. And we need to focus on national strategies as well in this context. This is the 1st time that that interconnectors would be part national grids, and that makes sense. And there are internal product projects that can reduce congestion, and that's very important. These developments are going in the right direction, but there are certain imbalances, but that that were in the original commission tax. The compromises should look at the interconnection needs. But we also need to look at member state needs, especially those who are at the heart of the network or the grid. And for those countries, that means significant national grid investment. And so this is not a secondary issue. This is really part and parcel of the whole interconnection issue, the accessibility, and consumer issues. These improvements have to do with the implementation of congestion income. And so I think we need to go further here. If we don't have a stricter timetable for these mechanisms, we'll have too much uncertainty about their implementation. In the medium to long term, we need to find solutions also in the trilog phase. So this text should not just focus only on interconnectors at the cost of grids, which are at the heart of our member states. France will obviously continue to try to make sure that we strike a good balance in the upcoming negotiations. Would like to have a a 4 year time period instead of an 8 year time period, and member states should validate the scenarios put forth by the commission. These, scenarios are really part of all planning. Thank you. Thank you. So, Hungary, Belgium, Lithuania.”
  EU energy infrastructure integration
• 2026-06-26 “20:57 - 12:23:30): Thank you very much. I welcome the commission's initiative for European plan for electrification. It's very important for all of us. With member states who wanted to, be on board with this, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, and Sweden, we have a clear message. Electrification is the most important lever for getting away from fossil fuels, and it will strengthen our strategic autonomy. Crises have shown us how it's very difficult to be reliant on gas and oil electrification, and there's also volatility and vulnerability that links into this. So electrification is the most effective response to this. It helps consumers and also protects us against the international market volatility. It helps our industry towards decarbonization and affordable energy, and it reduces dependencies that constrain our choices, and it protects future generations by reducing emissions. And that's why we would like to make electrification a major of the energy policy, industry policy, and climate policy in the EU. The governance regulation revision is a great opportunity for this. It allows us to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels that are import imported. And this we would like to make sure that it's a minimal part of our energy mix by 2035. But there are 3 conditions. Co consistency. We cannot electrify everything without support for e vehicles, heat pumps, so forth. Stability, we cannot electrify and have an ETS market or an electric market that does not support getting away from fossil fuels. And, also, we need to make sure that we master these technologies made in Europe, but we should not replace fossil fuel dependency with another type of dependency on a technology made by others. We need to have these conditions that will allow us to do do away with our dependence on fossil fuel. It's the next step in the green deal, making sure that we a low carbon electricity supply, and we support this agenda. And we will take initiatives to make sure that we can pick up the pace. Thank you.”
  EU approach to energy security (home-made vs import sources)
• 2026-06-26 “25:01 - 10:26:47): Thank you, Abbas. So, France, Finland followed by Croatia. Thank you very much. Can I also thank the commission for this proposal as well as the presidency for all of the work that is done on permitting? France supports the goal of simplification and speeding up permitting procedures. However, we think that that ambition has to be in line with a con coherent, robust, readable European framework, the rules on permitting are multiplying across various different sectoral documents. We think that that approach, on the 1 hand, risks making things more complex and on the other hand, creating inconsistencies among the various texts, leading to increased legal uncertainty for authorities and project leaders. France, along with a number of other member states at the council in March, as well as at yesterday's council, called for a harmonized approach to permitting as part of the environment omnibus. We regret that that approach has not been taken on board for energy, and we regret that there will be binding measures which overcomplicate rather than simplify. Finally, we regret some sensitive issues. Just let me give you 1 example. In the framework directive in water, there is a binding measure being brought in which we have significant doubts about. In these circumstances, we would require substantial modifications to the text to of the general approach so that France would be able to back it. Thank you. So thank you, Mott. So, Finland followed by Croatia followed by Slovenia.”
  EU policy on permitting for renewable energy projects
• 2026-06-25 “So there is a three times higher in mission for those. So we need to look at the coefficients so that we look at the real um uh real emissions and real performance. That's what China is doing. And so we need to make sure that the European industry can tap into the potential of electrification? Any potential, any flexibility should be given to stakeholders who make in Europe. And so this is something that we want to do. We want made in Europe, and we need to have the right parameters and the clear signals. So any flexibility needs to be aligned with an industrial quid pro quo, as it were. So we have the clean industrial deal and the Draghi report shows the way ahead. We need to have a green production in the EU. And so we need to make sure that there is higher demand for EU cars starting with um the fleets of vehicles corporate vehicles, which comprise 6,070% of the purchases. So we need to highlight local content and local materials as we see around the world, and we need to reconcile the environment and competitiveness ambitions of the EU. We need to make the right choices, choices and give the right signals to our citizens. Giving a preference to made in EU and reduce our CO2 emissions, as well as adapting to climate change. And we see this today. We see how we're paying for this. Thank you.”
  Corporate fleet electrification: binding zero-emission quotas vs. voluntary approach
• 2026-06-25 “Good morning, Madam Chairman. Good morning everyone. As WPK has said, the rise in electric vehicle purchases has been spectacular in the EU. And we need to keep pace with that. Of course this is linked to the oil crisis, but it's also the result of a clear and structured choices that we made on the European level years ago. Collectively, we've invested more than 200 billion in battery production, electric vehicle production and Charging infrastructure. So for us, there's only one choice. We need to keep going down this path and we need to have two. A two pronged approach. We need to strengthen our political vision. We should have a priority to given to electrification because of climate strategic and economic reasons. This is also important in terms of industry and long term employment. So regulation in this area should go along this voluntary path of electric vehicles for road transport. This is part of the commission's paper from December 2025 and is in line with our climate ambitions for 2040, and we'd like to keep them that way. Now, as a result, we would be against any type of measure that would break the signal of investment in electrification or anything that would run counter to scientific opinion. Let me be clear alternative fuels are not the same as electricity, not in terms of emissions reduction or purchasing power. The production potential is insufficient to decarbonize light vehicles. These fuels are not zero emission fuels and they're very expensive. And so in addition, that that material is needed elsewhere in terms of charging vehicles.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, Madam President, and thank you very much for this discussion. On the future of the Reach Regulation. The Commission announced that they are not going to revise the regulation, but I feel that we can and should act now to strengthen competitiveness of our chemical industries, to better protect the health and the environment. And we need to have. Controls of imported products, and we need to have a level playing field between union companies and third country companies. So we can not let products enter the market that are not compliant and dangerous. So the commission should propose a legislative act that would be dedicated to complement the existing legislation in the area of chemicals, especially with regard to imports and online sales. We should mobilise the levers of the current reach regulation to simplify and modernize the procedures. No data, no market. That principle needs to be updated with the most scientific advanced scientific research. We should not. So substances on the market could lead to concerns, for example, with PFAs. Endocrine. Endocrine disruptors. And that needs to be dealt with in a timely manner. The data needs to be garnered and managed in a timely manner manner as well. We cannot accept a transition to, uh. Um. Well, there's a new road map and this has to do with non-animal testing methods. There are various options available to our companies for digitalization and, um, uh, authorization procedures. Thank you very much to the commission for, um, providing the text for the upcoming comitology procedure in these areas.”
  Chemicals regulation
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, president, and thank you very much to the Benelux countries for this AOB point. The Future Circular Economy Act should promote the development of Um, measures to have a longer life products. So we should have a framework to have a European um market for secondary products. And we should look at, uh, recycled products from European origin. We need to look at, uh, harmonization for, for the waste hierarchy. And we should have, uh, recycled, um, elements, uh, in products that should be part of the eco design. A circular economy act should make sure that this is covered in part by recycled products of European origin, bringing on board or recycled, uh, elements, uh, should be also part of the extended producer responsibility. The directive on, uh, so the WEE directive should help us do away with our dependence on critical raw materials. Thank you. **Cyprus @Chair Thank you. I'll now give the floor to Netherlands, followed by Austria and Luxembourg. Carola. The floor is yours.”
  Circular economy
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you. Chair. Implementation of the European Water Resilience Strategy is very important for France. Protecting and improving our water resources must be a key objective. If you look at the heat wave, which we're currently experiencing today. I think what we can see clearly is that we need to protect this resource. It's absolutely essential for our very survival and for the survival of nature surrounding us. Now, in France, of course, we do have a water plan launched in 2023. Two focuses, one cutting down on water consumption 10% by 2030. That's the aim. We want a 10% reduction and secondly, optimising availability of resources. Looking at non-conventional water sources as well, we have a thousand new projects and we will have by next year. And all this is based on a circular economy approach. Now the farming side of things is experiencing problems due to the existence of some European legislation. There's there are rules on aid for infrastructure and irrigation. That's meaning that a lot of water related agricultural projects have been hampered even though they're focusing on adaptation to climate change. So what France wants is developments in the legislative framework on state aid and European funds in the next programming period, notably under the cap.”
  EU policy on water management
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you. Chair. Plastic pollution, notably microplastics, pollution and that of problematic chemical products harms our health, our children's health and the health of our environment. The science is clear. It's impossible to end plastic pollution without attacking the life cycle of plastic, in particular looking at production. Because if we don't do anything, the quantity of plastic produced will go up threefold by 2060. It's difficult for us to manage the current level of waste, and that will be even harder. So we've therefore adopted our approach to the International Treaty on Plastic Pollution and our negotiating mandate. That was back in October 2022. Now the negotiations are difficult. Plastic is something we depend upon, and it plays an important role in our societies. We really want this treaty, and we're aware of the fact that an agreement with all member states requires flexibility to be really low lowered our initial ambitions. Now, plastic production, we're not saying any more. Or rather, if we don't say that plastic production has to stop, then the instrument is going to be ineffective, and we might set us on the wrong track for coming decades in such conditions. We couldn't get European taxpayers involved in funding a treaty if it didn't say the things which we want. We need to make sure that we ban the most problematic plastics and chemical substances if we want an effective treaty. Now, with a view to the upcoming negotiations, we need to continue to clearly reiterate our ambition, and we need to continue mobilizing our partners, researchers and civil society to enable us to reach a really effective treaty. It's an issue of political responsibility, because ultimately, we will be the ones who will have to be responsible to our citizens, and we'll have to bear the responsibility for the results achieved. Thank you.”
  EU policy towards plastics
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you chair, and thank you to Spain for putting this item on the agenda. Now, Life Is True is the only EU project entirely focusing on funding for the environment and climate. It's essential if we want to fund concrete actions in our regions. Now we think soon we should set a specific spending target for biodiversity, similar to what you have in the current MFF. For us, that's important to guide our action and to achieve the Kunming Montreal objectives on biodiversity. So. Like all others who've taken the floor, I think we need a specific budget line for life. I think we've seen people agree on this. There's unanimity and that should be taken into account in the next MFF. I'll just say lastly, without the life programme, I don't know how we'll be able to ensure that we make progress with the restoration of nature regulation, which is going to demand billions of euros. Thank you.”
  Nature protection and restoration in the EU
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you. Chair. Invasive exotic species are more and more present in our environment, and this is having an economic, social and health related impact. And that's going to get worse due to climate change, global warming, and more and more trade. The existing European legislative framework isn't sufficient to enable us to eradicate these species. It needs to be bolstered. We need new concrete measures. We need to act on two fronts. We need to adapt to the consequences linked to the species covered by the regulations we already have and deal with emerging species. So we need real European level coordination in different steps. Firstly, we need to identify species to test a common eradication measures. Then we need to establish a hierarchy of species on the basis of that environmental health or economic impact. And then we need to develop a one health approach, enabling us to link up and join up sectoral legislation so we can act in a cross-cutting, coordinated way, drawing on good practices, successful, um, things which have been implemented and ensure that we have funding which can meet this collective threat we face in France. We are finalising a national plan to combat the impact of Asian hornets, notably on bees. And we have launched an experiment to eradicate the first cases of electric ants. Now we need a coordinated approach involving all member states concerned. To make this a success. We'd like to thank the Commission in advance for coming up with proposals on this. Thank you.”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. The growing rise in ultra fast fashion is and is linked to direct imports, and that has a harmful effect on the environment, employment and the economy. And there are also huge amounts of textile waste waste in Europe. But we need to review our practices. We need to have a repair, reuse and recycling of textiles, and we should mobilise the sector and the producers for harmonised and effective actions. We should have a clear set of criteria for ultra fast fashion, looking at the sustainability of products, that this subject should be taken into consideration in the regulatory context. Looking at To textiles, the echo design and the Future Circular Economy Act, and also online platform regulation. Thank you.”
  Sustainable fashion
• 2026-06-25 “Now, what we're seeing is that climate change is speeding up. So we need to step up our resilience efforts in terms of making water available and water quality. I would say on that point that France is against a revision of the WFD bringing in new derogations the projects related to critical raw materials. Now it's true. It's important that we increase our strategic autonomy when it comes to these critical raw materials. But I think the current legislation is sufficiently flexible to allow us to do this without us having to amend the directive. So I'd call on the commission to bolster the instruments. It has to ensure that critical raw materials are imported into the EU, are produced under EU equivalent conditions, in particular when it comes to water protection. And we also need to ensure. That derogations can be amended so that we do have the flexibility we need when it comes to, well, production of our own critical raw materials. But again, we don't think we should open up the directive. Thank you.”
  Sourcing of critical raw materials
• 2026-06-25 “Madam president, thank you. Experts tell us that all companies depend on biodiversity, have an impact on it, and can also be actors for positive change. We therefore have to give the right regulatory signal to change direction. Public financing cannot, on its own close the deficit in financing for biodiversity, which is estimated at more than €200 billion globally per year. Private financing, therefore, also has to be further developed. Biodiversity has to be incorporated into our economic models. In France, the National Strategy for biodiversity places companies at its heart. They have to reduce their impact on the environment and measure their impact more, and incorporate biodiversity in their strategic decisions. At the European level, it is essential that we sustainably reorient our economy towards a better position. Number one, we have to increase the incentives for biodiversity credits. This goes through the creation of a solid and clear regulatory framework so as to develop nature credits. Inconsistent incoherence with other major climate packages, such as climate change. Two in order to incentivise these credits, we have to create a harmonised European framework that is compatible with national Systems, perhaps under a voluntary and regulatory system. In France, we are taking targeted action in areas which have been validated by the state. It's called France biodiversity credits. This makes it possible to restore degraded biodiversity. To restore degraded areas. Through company action at the international level. Furthermore, we have to bolster our action. The international advisory body, set up in 2023 by the UK and France, plays a key role in supporting, at the global level, the development of of frameworks for biodiversity credits. Finally, in order to close the financing gap at the international level, we should at Cop 17 push for an expansion of the donor base. Thank you.”
  EU approach to sustainability criteria in private investments
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you very much. President of France supports the objective of simplification and acceleration of the permitting procedures. They're very strategic for our economy. But there are various other provisions and there are fragmentation and inconsistency in the texts. And this creates legal uncertainty for the authorities and for project owners. And that's why we're working with member states, states and calling on member states from the March Environmental Council to have a comprehensive cross-sectoral approach. This hasn't been taken up in the energy sector and the The negotiation of the environmental and networks package are are running in parallel, and we need to make sure that we have a more consistency. So we'd like to have a consolidation of the provisions that have to do with permitting in the future, so that we can have a unified text, which harmonizes the procedures for permitting and looking at the environmental impact in this context as well.”
  EU policy on permitting for renewable energy projects
• 2026-06-25 “Thank you. Chair. France fully supports the packaging regulation and its implementation in the timeframe provided for. We're in a situation where packaging accounts for about 40% of plastic waste, so delaying our action would weaken our environmental ambition and industrial investment, which is already underway. It's time now to implement this regulation in a coordinated manner. The adoption of any measures which can facilitate implementation by economic actors would be a step in the right direction, providing visibility and securing investment. Thank you.”
  Sustainable packaging
• 2026-06-23 “Thank you, Maria. Let me call your attention to a specific point raised at this conference. And it has been the object also of a note issued by the commission. Thank you. It concerns the land available, and this, of course, is great concern in the field. It is legitimate to want these lands to be provided. However, there are a lot of aspects that have been eased by the commission, but the controls remain complex, and they are problematic for the farmers as well as for the administration. Let me give you a concrete example. In some territories, namely in breeding areas, there are several cadastral areas that are highly divided and that are owned by different owners. In such conditions, asking for administrative paperwork for each section is very complex. France does not have a national database that would allow the control to be checked on this specific matter, and it is very difficult to obtain the necessary paperwork. France, therefore, proposes that in future, the burden of proof be on the other exploits and unless there is explicit paperwork that is provided by the owner. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you, chair, and thank you very much for the gift. And good morning to all the colleagues who have now arrived. Thank you, Commissioner, as well. Thank you to the Cyprus Presidency for the work done during this negotiation negotiations, and the progress has been very good, especially concerning several points. First of all, the increase of the funds, which will guarantee that we will be able to face up to the challenges, then the list of the interventions is considered satisfactory in order to strengthen the CFP and the oceans pact, and also the support for the control and a collection of data which will be fundamental to maintain the nature of the CFP. However, two major points have to be focused upon for. In France's opinion. So first of all, let us be clear. Our common objective is to share and enable the modernisation and renewal of the fleets. The texts do not allow us to guarantee that these objectives will be attained. However, this is a. This is crucial. We do not have to increase the pressure on our resources and. This cannot also be an obstacle for the renewal of the fleet. France is one of the few states here to truly have seen how difficult it is to renew its fleet. This has been done in the outermost territories, and so the sectoral agreement has to really provide the adequate framework for a fleet renewal that meets the realistic criteria at hand. Now, there are also problems Concerning the recovery of funds when problems are noted after the payment of funds. Well, this will be a legal problem for fisheries. Thank you.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you chair. Thank you to the Commission and the Cyprus presidency for organising the Med Fish Forever Conference in Cyprus last May. The subject is very important to France and also for the Mediterranean basin, because all the stakes here are real geopolitics, climate change and so on. It is also true for the Baltic Sea and for the Black Sea. In this respect, I think that it is also important for other basins. We shall pursue our activities in order to promote a sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in our regions for the good of coastal regions, and we shall also respect the provisions. We believe that it is important to raise the scientific knowledge in order to understand the developments. France Will is committed to promote this dynamic and assign a truly important document next year. Thank you.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you chair. Thank you to the Commission for launching this evaluation of the CFP. Thank you to the presidency for this document. The targeted revision of the CFP is necessary, and it must take into account the strategy of the of the sector taking into account food, the fisheries and more. This will enable the sector to adapt to climate change as well as to geopolitical circumstances. Moreover, the current legislation that is being discussed and the budget must be taken into account. The France wishes to also point out that there are interactions between stocks and fishing possibilities and indicators need to be specified for this. To do this, we need to know more about the stocks and know more about the impact of climate change on the marine environment, which have increased over the past five years. The multi annual yield of stocks needs to be taken into account as well in order to promote, in order to promote the selection of fleet and as to decarbonisation and the electrification of the fleet. This has to be done in line with capacity rules and the financial instruments that are appropriate. The cost of renewing a ship and renewing a fleet is high. So the CFP has to be implemented in a targeted fashion. France will be submitting some proposals that will contribute to the list of measures in the omnibus package, and the Commission will also have to work on an omnibus package that will respond to our efficiency needs in order to be operational and understood by the different players. The implementation of rules needs to be ensured, such as disembarkation rules and also a mixed fisheries. Now, in this context, a close attention has to be paid to the particularities of the outermost regions of Europe. There are some countries in the in Europe that have such regions. France, therefore, calls for a targeted revision of the CFP for management plans for the preservation of the acquis. While taking into account the social and environmental factors of the fisheries sector. I think that the current environmental and geopolitical crisis represents an opportunity, and I would like to urge us to move forward in favour of our fishers. Thank you.”
  Funding for fisheries and aquaculture · Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you chair. Thank you to Romania for having shared its concerns concerning and rather large bear population. 1500 bears are present in France. And these represent an issue as well. We need to reach a correct balance between the protection of and conservation of the species. In line with the human activities, including farming. Farmers must be able to protect their animals against against bears. France has 90 bears, so there are 1500 in Romania and 90 in France. France has taken management measures, for example, in a. In a pastoral and mountain activities. There are um. Breeders are. Are focusing on the genetics of animals. Thank you.”
  Large Carnivores
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you. Maria. Thank you, Commissioner Varhelyi, for the agreement reached in the trilogue concerning a plant reproductive material. It is the result of the Cyprus presidency and its predecessors efforts. The compromise strikes the right balance between easing the rules and seed quality, while making it possible to make progress in harmonizing seed production and marketing standards. It will meet technological innovations and also market expectations. It is a structural reform for the sector, strategic for our food sovereignty to as to the regulation on animal welfare during transport, I would like to thank the presidency for its work, in particular regarding the examination of the mirror measure contained therein. France is very attentive to the consistency between the requirements imposed imposed on European producers and those applicable to imports from third countries. More broadly, I advocate for the continuation of negotiations under the Irish presidency and the seeking of a balance between improving animal welfare and economic competitiveness, while avoiding unnecessary constraints in ensuring the feasibility of implementation. Thank you.”
  Sustainable use of seeds in EU policy
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you Maria. We welcome the progress made in terms of control that have been permitted by this regulation revision. And this the obligation for declarations that have been applied to the entire fisheries sector have been positive. However, France supports a Germany's request to avoid duplicates and to ensure the consistent collection of data. Let me give you an example. Some of the data required from the same professionals under traceability rules that are set forth by the controls regulation are already requested by the catch as well as by the sea, the CMO regulations. That is why simplification should be a priority over the multiplication of criteria. So France reminds us of the importance of the interoperability of systems. Thank you.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you, chair, and thank you for the. To the Commission for this communication. And France would like to share some of its opinions. Our position concerning several points is important. So first of all, we support the ambition to to strengthen the total allowable catches. This would allow professionals to focus more on their work and also to focus on the decarbonisation of the fleet. This Multiannual nature would also be good in the West Med project also. Concerning the plans that have been launched by the Commission in May. This will also be important. Now France has also looked into the obligation of landing obligations as well as the evolutions of the CFP. These will only be efficient if they take into account the experience of the players in the field. And this. This has been revealed by experts. So thirdly, also the energy transition and the modernisation of the sector. France maintains that such transformations will only be done if this is consistent. So for example, the support of modernisation has to be revised. And that is why France demands a modernisation omnibus that will be concrete and this before the summer. Now, as to sustainability of fisheries, this will have to be done on a global scale, and this will have to be in a line with the oceans pact. France therefore demands a stronger EU role in its in the negotiations and also the good articulation of this position with the fisheries sector. As to the possible fishing opportunities for 2027, the technical accounts will have to be taken into account, as well as the tax that will have to take into account socio economic and environmental factors. France will believe that we can only converge our our desire for the sustainability of the maritime sector, along with environmental factors. Thank you.”
  Environmental regulation of fisheries
• 2026-06-22 “Thank you. Maria. Thank you, David, for having brought this item to our agenda. France closely follows up the monitoring of the BSE in Europe. And these have been favorably um the measures have been favorably approved by Efsa. The sanitary measures have been implemented in line with those measures. We believe, however, that issues relating to monitoring must be examined, for example, in terms of its management, management and monitoring have to go hand in hand. And these are the elements that, for example, have helped us prevent issues on the basis of a scientific evaluation, as France will be able to pursue its work in a constructive fashion. Thank you.”
  Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
• 2026-06-16 “Thank you. Marilyn. I'll speak in French. When it comes to the regulation. I'd like to welcome the excellent result achieved on this text, which is very important for our common policies, and also going to help with modernizing the next MFF. In particular, I appreciate the amendments which have been made in line with the priorities. We've always supported the clarification regarding the cap now and the fisheries policy. They're common in nature and visibility in the next MFF. Have been MFF have been preserved. Also, the specificities of outermost regions have been taken into account through policy, and the role of the regions has been strengthened. And this is all good. Now we need to come back in the box to the definition of future plans. It should be firstly up to member states to ensure proper ownership at national and regional level involving the various stakeholders. There are various commission recommendations, but this should not become binding for Member states through the NRP piece. I'd also welcome the latest changes made in the text to ensure a balanced governance alignment between the rule of law and charter procedures on the basis of a model which is tried and tested when it comes to the regulation on the e f. I'd welcome the significant progress made. Francis supported that for a long time. We think we need to meet investment needs. We need to focus on competitiveness of European sovereignty, things identified by the Draghi report. So principle of excellence. European preference. That has to be clarified. We would say, though it's a shame the presidency didn't take on board some of our proposals. Two in particular, which we think could be broadly supported on governance.”
  Funding for OCTs and outermost regions
• 2026-06-16 “Thank you very much, Marilyn. Hi, everyone. I'll switch in French. I would like to thank the presidency for its excellent work on the box and for the quantitative proposals. Uh, as part of these negotiations, France sees the future MFF as enabling us to invest in strategic sectors and technologies to strengthen our competitiveness and our sovereignty, and reduce our dependencies, and to fund fundamental policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy, Common Fisheries Policy, including to ultra peripheral regions that is essential to reducing our dependencies and in strengthening our food autonomy. Uh, this is essential for the European Union as a whole. We believe in terms of the box. This doesn't solve the necessary calculations of the future MFF. We have to, of course achieve our goals, but also control national spending. That is why Further improvements will be needed on own resources, without which it will not be possible to achieve an overall agreement. On this point, I would repeat our support for the Commission's proposed package. I would stress in particular resources based on effective revenues and primarily on players outside of the European Union, so as not to increase the financial burden on European companies and taxpayers. We need, in particular, to strengthen the yields from existing resources and to consider new ways forward. And we welcome the input from the European Parliament. Friends, like the Commission is not in favour of reintroducing rebates. We can't call for updating the financial framework and at the same time want to retain an archaic mechanism as regards spending. Work has to continue. Bearing in mind the fact that the overall amounts should be.”
  Own EU resources
• 2026-06-16 “Member states should have a strategic steering role in implementation, and the Multiannual strategic document should be adopted. The Commission has mentioned this principle and technological neutrality. That principle needs to be guaranteed as enshrined in the revised climate law. These two topics, and perhaps others such as Investeu, should now be covered in the next stages, notably in the European Council. Lastly, global Europe. That will be the key for the EU in the next MFF. The EU has an important role to play in the current political situation, and we need to act in line with our values and interests. I welcome the significant work done on this text. Objectives have been clarified. The role of the Council has been bolstered in governance, notably when it comes to mobilising the reserve and the migration, conditionality and outermost territories as well. It's good that they are eligible for support as well under the instrument. The European preference principle was already mentioned in the recitals, but article 20 should reflect these tighter eligibility criteria. It is important that we ensure that our companies can compete. There are others in other places which are using unfair competitive practices, and we also want to secure Europe. Now innovative solutions. This is something we haven't had in a European text. This doesn't have a clear operational impact. And our external action. Needs to focus on supporting development of our international partnerships. That's key. More than ever. And we need to continue to focus on that and international solidarity. That's, uh, needs to be expressed and it's important for our interests and values. Thank you.”
  EU development aid (migration conditionality)
• 2026-06-16 “Take account of the work on the own resources. Cuts should be targeted and should reflect the priorities of the MFF. There's still a considerable amount of leeway which has to be carefully examined, particularly when major changes are proposed, but which may not be fully justified. Work on reducing and controlling administrative spending should be begin. In particular, some of the elements of the Negro box would risk upsetting the financial balance. A safety net for cohesion policy for a limited number of Member States in particular. This is contrary to the whole logic of this policy. In cross-cutting terms, there are three key priorities which should continue to be studied. The new MFF should be based on a European preference for strategic sectors, with ambitious eligibility criteria to support companies which produce and innovate in Europe. That applies to internal policies and external ones. Strengthening the council's role in the governance of each instrument is essential. It should enable us to take full account of council priorities on implementing and organising these funds and allocating funding. We note with regret the fact that the presidency didn't want to continue along this logic for the Competitiveness Fund, whereas the Commission did express its support, then the principle of technological neutrality must be ensured. Further clarification is needed on this, but thank you for the work which has already been done, and we are at your disposal to continue this work in a calm and determined fashion. Thank you.”
  Size of EU budget
• “Thank you, chair. I am delighted to have this very important issue on today's agenda to be guiding the council for the years to come. Now in the work plan, we've got to strike a balance between pursuing work on the working plan for 2027, 2030, which is still relevant, and the idea or introduction of new topics, which have become more and more relevant in recent years, particularly AI as we've heard. We've also got to strike a balance between a horizontal approach and sector by sector approaches. We need, of course, to work in line with the culture compass, particularly when it comes to professional to culture professionals, to the ecological transition of the culture and creative sacred sectors of digitalization, including AI, and its impact on our sectors. We've got to look at economic aspects of culture such as, for example, data gathering, data sale, and strategic investments. And finally, we want to be in line with relate with international cultural relations. Regarding the working methods, now we need to continue with our current work and come up with some new different methods and steps according to the various individual topics in order to make sure that we can meaningfully implement our objectives. This will be necessary for cultural technicians' discussions in the morning. The cultural compass, as I said, is essential, and the main topics of our discussion must be in line with that, always bearing in mind our national cultural sovereignty. We've got to think also, of course, of the challenge arising from this because the commission, member states, and council actions must be clearly interconnected and make sure that everything we do adds value. In order to implement the work plan and make sure we can have sufficient flexibility between the topics and the new issues which will arise in the fourth coming years, we would like to have a regular meeting to deal with these issues, perhaps every 6 months. This would enable every country to give an update on its current work on this field and to assess progress and to refocus our actions if necessary in order to have a regular, update of our work and respond to the work plan if necessary. Thank you very much.”
  EU and national cultural identities
• “45:52 – 17:48:02): You very much, Jeff. France fully supports ETS, especially its aviation angle. It's a cornerstone of the EU's climate policy. Because the ETS works, we should maintain it and prevent undermining the balance which was struck a couple of years ago at great cost. Extending the geographical scope of the e t u's ETS is something that's regularly criticized within civil aviation internationally as it is said to call into question the basis. And there are a significant number of participants that will enter in in 2027 when it comes into force as a compul on a compulsory level. However, despite these new demands for the ETS, we will be able with this extension to cover all international aviation. So, rebalancing the 2 initiatives could make the EU's position in ECAO more fragile, especially at this time when a lot of opposition has been expressed. Such developments would lead to a weakening of the international dimension, which is currently at play. We invite the commission to present a factual report on the state of play of the ETS in the aviation sector and to pay very close attention to this topic. In our experience, we've seen that we need to both take into account any potential negative impact on our economy. For example, in the past, we were exposed to the risk of reprisal measures, which would have occurred if we had at that time extended ETS Aviation outside of the EU. So finally, I invite you to bear in mind that it is crucial that we continue to support an ambitious international framework for decarbonization in the aviation sector at global level. Thank you. Thank you. Will the commission have any comments on this?”
  Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Decarbonisation of aviation sector
• “Thank you. Chair. France particularly stresses that the ECF should fully apply the European preference principle. It should prioritise prioritize European stakeholders and those who invest in Europe with industrial deployment and use of technologies located in Europe to the benefit of IP that's created by European financing should focus on critical technologies and future sectors. We think that the excellence principle should remain the rule. Only the most promising projects should be financed, regardless of where they come from, to maximize innovation, reinforce competition and value investments already underway, the ECF should be working in coordination with Horizon Europe to ensure continued investment for innovation and other strategic sectors. To avoid any breaks in strategic development projects, we need a transparent, streamlined project to give beneficiaries a clear, efficient way forward.”
  "Buy European" provisions
• “Thank you, chair, and thank you for the high quality of your work on this text. Since the beginning of the semester, France very much shares the concerns raised by Italy. We believe that if there are good transport conditions which are guaranteed in terms of food, water, rest, and as long as controls are rigorous and harmonised, it is possible to think about travel times which are adapted. Such flexibility is necessary so as not to penalise some member states, which, because of their various geographical characteristics, would suffer otherwise. So we suffer the exclusion of maritime and air transport time from the overall calculation of transport time, as well as the possibility to extend travel times whatever the destination. France defends a pragmatic approach according to species as well, and clarified responsibilities between stakeholders and anticipation and training for those involved, as well as reciprocity, which we believe to be essential. And rules would apply to our livestock breeders. And they should also concerned concern imported animals and products. We need to continue to work together on a balanced, proportionate, applicable text which will allow us to make progress on animal welfare and also maintain a dynamic competitive husbandry sectors in the union. Thank you.”
  EU transport infrastructure integration
• “Thank you very much. I'll be speaking French. Thank you to the commission and the presidency for this update. And for all of the political capital and energy that is being put into all of these different negotiations, which will make up the modernization of our financial services markets. I have five points I want to make as regards, first of all, as regards the work on the SFD. We would like to thank the Presidency for its work on trying to achieve a general approach that's very positive and obviously will bring clarity as regards sustainable financing. Secondly, we'd like to welcome progress made on securities that may still also be made today. This is obviously a key block if we are to advance the Capital Markets Union, and it also allows us to meet our objective of reaching an agreement on the entire package by autumn 2026, which will allow us to work on relaunching the securities market in Europe, which is something that we have discussed at length and which we support very much. Next, the retail investment strategy, thanks to the presidency for all of its work here. This is a point that's already been made here, but we do have a difficulty with the gap between the agreement at political level and from December and the current state of the compromise that's being proposed at the moment we cannot accept the text as it is.”
  Financial regulation
• “Other solutions might be envisaged in the same along similar lines. The progress on the Cbam is important here. We need to ensure that there are solutions for exports and the sectors that work downstream, and also the quotas for sectors that are subject to this. Here we believe that we should have a robust action plan in place? We need to make sure that this takes into account the carbon footprint of each country, and not just the emissions or the of the economy, so as to ensure that the transition does not take place at the expense of other countries by increasing emissions in other countries, because that would be a lose lose situation, both from an economic and social point of view and from an environmental point of view. Along similar lines, we like to ensure that fair competitiveness is in place with a trade policy which stands on its own two feet. And then from an energy point of view. Finally. The 2040 targets. Well, it's about, uh, tech neutrality. And that's why we, uh, we have this objective for 2040 in place. Um, the tech neutrality principle. We need to think about it. Uh, from the point of view of what can be done and what can be implemented. These are the main points that I wanted to raise. Thank you.”
  Climate efforts
• “Thank you very much. And thank you very much to the Belgian presidency for their very clear, um, resolve to, um, uh, champion gender equality throughout their presidency. And this is the first formal equality Council, and this [00:05:30] is a milestone. And this is something that we should provide more impetus to. Obviously, we can do more. And within this context, we support the proposal put forth by the presidency to have equality and gender equality taken up in the work. And so we'd like to have that heightened visibility given to these issues as dealt with by council. This could be organizational, institutional. We need to make sure that we're always working with the same compass, [00:06:00] which is equality for all of our citizens, and we need to bring this on board further in our agenda. So we need to have more diagnostics to see where we can make improvements and where we can strengthen matters. So we would like to contribute to that thinking. And we feel that the visibility of, um, gender equality should be a very visible as well as discriminating, uh, uh, combating discrimination on all grounds. [00:06:30] So we need to have a more feminist and human, uh, EU in so doing.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. France, I would like to thank Poland for putting this item on the agenda. We support an open, balanced and dynamic trade market, but we are also holding dear a number of principles that the Polish presidency outlined when it comes to trade agreements. So we need to ensure that there are quality assessment analyses. We need to also ensure that there is the proper implementation of agreements. And look at the impact of these. And we must limit the concessions for sensitive sectors. Promote a ambitious standards and as well as controls, we must ensure that there is regulatory autonomy of the internal market.”
  Free trade agreements (FTAs)
• “Thank you. Chair. Combating fraud in biofuels is crucial to reach our climate and decarbonisation objectives. And this goes hand in hand with preserving competitiveness for our producers. In France, for example, almost half the raw materials for biofuel production are come from high risk countries, which is why strengthening our harmonized tools at European level to combat fraud is crucial in this regard, we'd like to thank the Commission for their continued work and invite it to go further, first by rapidly modifying text and amending them to allow for swifter exclusion, exclusion of fraudulent biofuels from the market, and also offering a framework to allow for checks carried out in production facilities from risk countries to prevent fraud risk. Thank you.”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Thank you. The eighth, EAP as they done in the green deal, has been an excellent accelerator for up the resilience and sovereignty of the European Union. This midterm review has come at a time where we're at a key turning point at the end of one legislative cycle. Now, France welcomes the fact that we are looking at the priority areas to work on so that we can move towards the implementation of the Green deal. We have to, of course, meet certain challenges. We have to have a fair just transition in our territories, and we have to make sure that we have competition for the various economic sectors. We support a priority which is given to climate change, adaptation and resilient water management, circular economy, combating pollution in particular from chemicals and also the restoration of our land and sea-based ecosystems. This also shows that the union can move forwards when it comes to PFAS and plastic pollution. In order to protect our citizens and our environment, we want to convey a clear signal to our international partners. We have to ensure that we retain a leadership role in combating climate change globally. We must move towards a further decarbonization of our economy and our strategic economy as well. That is why it's important that we continue to focus on moving away from fossil fuels, as the Dutch Minister said, so that we can comply with our commitments made at COP 28. Here we're talking about the credibility and consistency of our actions. We need to give visibility vis-a-vis our economic operators, partners and citizens, and to people outside of the eu. In this context, we support the adoption of these council conclusions. Thank you.”
  Climate efforts
• “Thank you very much indeed, Madam Chair. Commissioner France would like to thank the Commission for this action plan, which includes some very important measures to bring down energy prices. The accelerated implementation is therefore very much welcome, but we should actually go further and ensure that we can have a systemic approach to minimize the overall global cost of our energy. In the plan, we have to look closely at the identification of the various component parts, but there is no concrete solution proposed which would help us to optimize our investment in order to make good this shortfall. What we need is a global overview of our energy system as we approach approached 2050, taking account of our energy needs and making full use of the complementarity of low carbon resources. Both are renewable, intermittent and nuclear resources. It is only on this basis that we can construct a true energy policy in Europe, which can combine decarbonisation with competitiveness, particularly between bordering countries. We think we need to act on several levels. Firstly, for the Cam, we need to have a low carbon approach which will help us to regulate fossil fuels rather than just setting a target for renewables. This is key to ensure that we can have a decarbonised energy mix, which is competitive and which is based on all available low carbon fuel and energy sources. We also have to give our support to electrification, which is also one way of reducing our dependency. Respecting technological neutrality is one way of optimizing investment in electrification. We need it to revise the state Aids framework. And that should feed into this principle. And compensating the indirect carbon costs. Should either be extended beyond the year 2030.”
  Energy (green transition)
• “Thank you for the floor chair. Setting an ambitious objective for 2040 is an important step in the path towards neutrality by 2050, picking up on the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. Now above and beyond that, the one and a half degree target does require reinforced levels of ambitions at global level, especially when it comes to the big polluters, which means that we do need to intensify efforts as regards climate diplomacy, setting a target and figures for the union goes hand in hand with setting the conditions in order to attain that. And there are four ways of going about that. First of all, our climate policies do have to dovetail with initiatives that lead to industrial serenity in order to reinforce instruments which can we can avoid carbon leaks. Now our climate objectives do have to go hand in hand with measures to strengthen competitiveness, and that goes as far as exiting carbon intensive technologies. Nuclear energy has to be put on foot of equality with a whole range of other low carbon technologies. Three, we need to find financing both public and private, which are necessary to this transition and to ensure that there are flanking measures to support the most vulnerable. Fourth, to have an ambitious target for 2040, well it means that we need to ensure that we can implement a fit for 55 package and the deployment of the flanking measures need to be looked into in terms of notably governance when it comes to the 2040 objective strong uncertainties which have to do with the prices of natural carbon as well as various other types of abortion. We need to be able to divide this into three separate objectives, reducing net emissions and the technological side of things. Now the uncertainties when it comes to carbon absorption by 2040 could justify that we could set a climate objectives based on net emissions that is precise enough for us to be consistent with the target of attaining low carbon by 2050. The future framework post 2030 will need to look into national effort sharing. In this exercise, we will need to take an approach which is as far as possible effective to take account of efforts that have already been deployed and what additional efforts need to be undertaken so as to reduce our emission reduction objectives. Thank you.”
  Climate efforts
• “The suppliers are covered. And this is very welcome because this does away with the most risky sides of these issues. And so these are very real issues and this is something. We've seen some bankruptcies over the past months and people had to go to suppliers at a very high market. And so we want to improve security of supply, have better flexibility, and it's useful to do this because we have to make sure that we have the right capacity mechanisms. But some of the issues really need to be optional. And with regard to market surveillance, we'd like to see a harmonization of European rules, but it should follow the principle of subsidiarity and we shouldn't weaken national legislators. And also if we want to work within the proper time table so that this has an impact on industry and that it leads to decarbonisation. We need to have adoption by the end of the year. And I think this is [00:22:30] the mandate given to us by the European Council.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “Thank you, Madam President. And thank you to the Commissioner. Thank you for all the work that's been done in recent months. As we know, the heads of state and government have committed themselves back in 2020 to introduce new, new resources, new own resources [00:23:30] by 2027, in order to be able to do the repayments for new. So I think it's important to respect that commitment generally in more political terms. The developments that have taken place since then have just reinforced the need for new own resources. So that's why we welcome all the efforts that that have been deployed during the presidency to make progress on this difficult file, but this is necessary. The European Council next week can give us some guidance on the [00:24:00] subsequent steps. So which will allow us to implement all of this in good time. And we wish all the best to the Belgian presidency to continue with the substantive work, particularly on the resources based on the Cbam, which is promising but not sufficient, and also on the ETS system, so that we can arrive at a provisioner which everybody can agree on as soon as possible.”
  Own EU resources
• “Thank you very much. Madam president. Commissioner with the three, the cop on Rio and the discussion on plastic pollution. We had a very busy year last year. Now, this is something we need to emphasize. We might worry about. Our multilateralism is working. We have to say that these advances and the decisive decision on final funding at Cop 29 and an agreement on article six that we've been waiting for ten years. Despite all of that progress, the discussions were tense. More in 2024 than in 2023, with some developing countries in Busan and Baku. And we can clearly see that there's a greater difficulty in arriving at a consensus. That's notably because positions are becoming more entrenched for some key countries. They are hampering the conclusion of a number of major negotiations. We have to be aware of the fact that many countries, whether we're talking about European ones or ones from the global South, are dealing with things being coupled together in ecological terms, which has an effect on their rhetoric, and that has to be taken account by us as well. We have to draw lessons for this year. It's mitigated. We need to protect scientists and make sure that their work is not regarded as opinions. The influence of the European Union rests on its ability to create bridges with ambitious third countries, particularly the smaller ones that don't always have much influence.”
  EU position at multilateral environmental negotiations
• “49:50 – 16:50:38): Thank you, chair. France reaffirms its full support for a harmonized digital majority at European level so as to ensure effective protection for minors in the union. The French authorities believe this harmonization should be based upon a European standard, which is harmonized both in its legal specificity and its technical elements whilst allowing for national specificities, particularly on the choice of age, as long as these adaptations are compatible with the European standard. European rules should cover all services for online networks provided by online providers and platforms given the serious risks that they have for the health and security of our minors. Thank you.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Thank you very much, chairman. And thank you very much to our Danish colleague for the initiative. Uh, we talked about the importance of simplification this morning. This is a factor of competitiveness and there is no simplification without digitalization. So I would like for France to continue to work on this subject of digitalization. And I welcome the initiative, uh, set forth by Denmark. I think we need to be aware that this is not going to resolve all of the questions pending with regard to the discussions that we're having on 18 08038 83. But, um, we need to make sure that we can do this. It's important for our union, and we are prepared to do everything we can. Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Well first of all, on timetable calendar. Our aim is to get a good budget. A budget that covers the investment needs of the EU before we worry about timing. And France now doesn't feel it can support the Negro box as an acceptable basis for discussions going forward. It's fair enough to want flexibility and to modernize our budget. But if you bring back the, um, rebates, you're breaking the balance, which was supposed to be part of the modernizing exercise. So with such an imbalance, we would have a number of questions that trouble us. And there are some things that are essential for progress, which we'd like to mention. First, a cross-cutting preference. A European preference to be brought in horizontally when it comes to competitiveness fund, but also when it comes to adding to the interconnection. Pillar three Global Europe. This is fundamental if you're looking for strategic autonomy, and European strategic autonomy should be the key of defence and space related issues. We need special mention to that to the Cap, and the CFP should be able to keep that essence as community policies. They were the first integrated such policies. This has been said before. To renationalise them would seriously impede the internal market and fairness within it, and it's important to be reintegrated to sectoral based regulation, which have to be made more operational.”
  Size of EU budget
• “Thank you very much. Thank you. Commissioner. What I have to say is very close to what the German minister just said. France obviously believes that the EU needs a budget that enables us to act in the interests of our citizens. And you've underscored some of our priorities yourself, Mr. Chair. However, it's also essential to be very tight and rigorous and remain close to the balanced council found for a number of reasons. First of all, we when it comes to header and margins, we have to make sure there's a secure buffer for urgent and emergency needs, given the uncertainty of the environment we operate in, that's necessary. Secondly, commitments have to be tailored to further exercises coming after, not to be too constrained given the fact that national contributions will be going up in 26 and 27 quite significantly. France will be particularly careful when it comes to the impact of these negotiations on national contribution levels for next year, given the national context, which is complex, and where the public finances are under a lot of pressure, though in this we are not unique and so we will be Trying to defend the council position as much as possible. And we certainly against payment appropriations in the amending letter being recycled for other purposes. We definitely guard against that. We're also very careful about administrative spending being made more rational in all institutions, including decentralised agencies, and lowering the salary adjustments must lead to less recourse to special instruments. Which is all about making the whole heading, uh, sustainable. And we've all been committed to that, and we will support you for as long as it takes today and beyond. Thank you.”
  Size of EU budget
• “At the end of the day, it's the way I mean, we see supervision in the medium term. It should be based. And this is my second point on a profound reform of the governance of ESMA. And here again, I agree with what the Commissioner has said. An effective decision making process is of the essence. To ensure supervisory duty, you cannot rely on mechanism like colleges, where it's essentially about sharing information but not really taking decision. Typically, when you are supervising a CCP or a market venue, you need to take decisions. Sometimes hard decisions, because what is at stake is financial stability. So you want to be sure that there is a clear line of responsibility, that the decision making process is also clear, and that we end the day or at the end of the weekend in kind of a crisis. We are sure that a decision is taken. So this is very much the way we are approaching it and supporting the creation of an independent executive board, while, of course, preserving a certain role for Board of Supervisors that should, of course, maintain there a presence in this new governance. Finally, I would say that we stand ready to work with all delegations, as with the presidency, to identify a suitable outcome and to work in a concrete manner on these two critical questions. Thank you.”
  Financial regulation
• “European thinking relating to parental control must also be gone into in further depth. It's also necessary to act to raise awareness amongst the public. With this in mind, France is organising a campaign, Children and Screens, which looks at the effects of exposure to screens. The European Commission's desire for a safer digital world is also particularly useful. In general, combating disinformation requires that we have a central role for science to avoid the circulation of fake information in relation to health, which can have irreversible consequences with regard to young people. Obviously, schools are very important when it comes to the digital arena and critical thinking, and this is particularly the case with the charter for European digital citizenship. The From the network for Young People in France has attempted to provide explanations in relation to the digital sphere, helping people to sort out false from true and to assess the veracity of public information. Another study entitled. How to deal with Data and it permits children from the age of 11 years old to create their own algorithms and to develop their critical faculties. Now, we'd like to share our good practice with the other Member States, if possible. Thank you.”
  Focus of EU policy on education (shaping workers vs citizens)
• “Thank you Chairman. Thank you to the commission for that presentation of the communication. Thank you vice president for speaking on this. Because the biotechnology sector is growing in a context of strong international competition and many challenges. So congratulations on the launch of the European strategy on critical medicines, which is also an essential subject. It's true that here we have immense potential for growth in the health sector, agriculture, food feed, performance materials for energy, textiles, construction, and the chemical industry vice president. You mentioned a number of important challenges that we need to start work on because the texts are already on the table. The regulatory framework needs to be straightforward and forecastable. These requirements need to be reflected in the pharmaceutical package on the complex and illegible data which can hamper the ability of our industry to invest in innovation. Innovation. Another important point, we need to innovate in biotechnology, which means having attractive intellectual property rights. The unified set of rules for patents is ongoing. We should not weaken the framework. And then financing here, competition with the USA in particular is harsh. We should strengthen financing and the union for capital markets, franwell would be looking at bio sourced or biotechnology materials and their access to the markets. We need to continue this work to have a basis for regulation to the EU level. And this communication is on the right track”
  Intellectual property rights (IPR)
• “Thank you. Thank you chair. Um, well, maybe the starting point of the discussion is to say that supervision is certainly not an end in and end in itself. Um, it's a tool to reduce fragmentation, to strengthen legal certainty, to avoid regulatory arbitrage and to make our capital market more integrated and more competitive. And the question is, is the current model fit for purpose? And how can we do progress in order to have more dynamic, more efficient financial market, basically to finance our economy? And that was really the thrust of the Draghi and the letter letter report. We are pretty convinced that the existing framework is not delivering in terms of harmonization, of supervision, in terms of variety of reporting requirements, in terms of application of EU law across across Europe. And this is also the case for in areas where national authorities are I mean, disagree with themselves. And we know how it is difficult between themselves and we know how difficult it is under the, let's say, under the role of asthma to ensure concrete convergence of supervisory practices. So it would be a mistake to say that staying where we are or relying on existing tools would allow us to accomplish a progress in this area. And basically, our market, I think this is has been recalled by the commissioner, and I think we have a lot of testimonies from third countries that they are seen, as, you know, limited by the by the current fragmentation behind national barriers. So this is the reality.”
  Financial regulation
• “Thank you very much to Germany for this information point and also for organising this fifth meeting of the international meeting on world on chemicals. This is going to be important I think, in combating chemicals and the problems caused by them. I think this is very much linked to climate regulations and also lack of, or the loss of biodiversity. So we will be there using most recent reliable data. I think the EU needs to show the way forward and this is part of the work being done in the context of the review of the reach regulation as well, in order to make it easier to use alternatives and plan in an environmentally sustainable way. Thank you”
  Chemicals regulation
• “Thank you, Chair. Firstly, [00:07:30] I'd like to thank the commission for the actions that you have taken up in recent years to tackle the implementation of two regulations on medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. I would also like to thank the member states that you cited, who I'm sure some of whom will take the floor after myself. In spite of all of these actions and the emergency adoption of transitional measures last March. The number of requests for certification [00:08:00] of the two types of products, according to the two regulations has not been sufficient to exclude the chance of having shortages, and. Also the appointment of these devices. This means that the European Union cannot identify the real cause of this shortage of IV dmds. We need to communicate as quickly as possible with the producers of these products about how they [00:08:30] certify these products under the regulations, so that we have an overview of all of the available products on behalf of our joint mission to combat shortages. We must make sure that there is nothing that prevents diagnosis from taking place. We must continue our efforts, especially working together with EU damned. I hope the Commission will give us a regular update of the sustainability of this system, and of its governance as well. Thank [00:09:00] you.”
  Medical devices
• “Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Madam Vice President, thank you very much to the Hungarian Presidency for these conclusions which we can support. They allow us to recognize the successes of the programs, but also the the difficulties we're faced with in the future as well. The execution of the space program and the progress we've made since 2020 are satisfying. That's something that's been said. We've got flagship programs like Copernicus Egnos and Galileo. They have attained their key performance indicators and carry out essential functions for a number of services in Europe. But as you said. Now, chair, we need to work on improving the operational side of things at the EU level in order to ensure our resilience from here on out and make sure it's sustainable into the future. Some of the challenges remain, in particular to improve coverage of certain services, for example, and also to strengthen our capacities of partnership. So we need to act in a decisive manner so that we can make sure this is sustainable in the long term. Achieving the first generation of Galileo and strengthening our operational security in order to have the initial operational capability by 2025 remain ambitious objectives. They're essential for the member states. They need to have government, robust governmental services, and particularly with regard to the increasing threats Europe is faced with, which we have no alternative to at the at the national level on Copernicus. Then the preparation of the new generation of operational Sentinels, the deployment of the Sentinel expansion, particularly CO2 and the development of the related services, remain challenges that we have to overcome over the next few years. We should continue our investment efforts and supporting innovation in this regard as well, so that we can step up our strategic autonomy on the whole. Of course, this is all very important for a space program itself, but just in general for access to space as well. As you said, Madam Vice President, thank you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Thank you, chairman, and thank you, Commissioner Vahey. I'd like to say how much I'm looking forward to a simplification omnibus for sanitary and phytosanitary issues. France looks forward to that immensely. Against this background, I'd like to remind you that many member States have asked for a re examination of the stocks of pesticides that are already banned in the European Union, and to eliminate them as quickly as possible. Below the detection level, France wants to see the lmas at the minimum possible level once, as soon as a substance is no longer authorised in the EU. That should be the general principle when it comes to monitoring. It's essential to make sure that the EU has a dedicated team working on making monitoring levels of imported topics. It's also essential to draw the conclusions of any breaches of the rules made by suspending imports from third country, until the operators concerned have brought themselves into line with the rules. Against that background, I welcome the organization of a dialogue on working together to monitor imports. I look forward also to future omnibuses and making it easier for innovations to have access to the market. It's important to simplify the authorisation processes while maintaining the very high level of sanitary and phytosanitary Three, which boost consumer confidence in our products. And then I also welcome the Future Biotech Act. Thank you.”
  Pesticides & trade
• “This should be the starting point. And this is why I would say we fully support the commission approach. On the scope of direct supervision. We consider it is proportionate targeted since it focuses on actors that are cross-border by nature and systemic and systemic. Any weakening of this ambition would mean collectively falling short of our objective, i.e. at the end of the day, entering less financing of our economy. Then we agree that we have basically two questions to to, to fix is how asthma will operate as in its new role of direct supervision. And second, what should be the interaction between national supervisory authority and asthma in a steady state? On the on the latter, I think that any transitory model. Because I think we all realize that we will not jump directly from day one to direct supervision by. Asthma should be limited in time and should ensure efficiency. Avoid double costs because to a certain extent, national authority will continue their role. Why asthma will increase its role. So we will face, in the transitory period, a double cost element. We should Um, realized that typically the college model is not efficient to, um, to, to address supervisory issues. It's not able, it's not fit for purpose to take, to take decision. And the, this transition period should be adapted to allow for a transfer or share of knowledge that is today within national authorities and should be tomorrow also at ESMA level. So we are we agree to work on this transitory period, provided that it is limited in time and that we have a robust discussion on the steady state, the steady state, which is what matters.”
  Financial regulation
• “26:25 – 16:30:40): Thank you, chair, commissioner, director general, colleagues. The international space summit will take place on the ninth and tenth of September in Paris. Now the purpose of that is to promote, strong cooperation between partners sharing, shared vision of an innovative space sector, which is safe, technological, and accessible. It will bring together the main international players in the space sector in order to ensure a broad representation and which is faithful to current space realities. Now this summit is happening at a critical time. Spatial space space sector at world level is going through a lot of changes, breakthroughs, all sorts of economic upheavals, and space the space sector has become a strategic issue of crucial importance for our defense and security. Now in particular, the purpose is to position Europe as a space power on the global stage. It would be an opportunity for the EU and its member states to send out a strong message, I hope, of unity and a shared vision. The preparatory work for the sun summit is, taking place around 4 pillars. Firstly, we've got science and exploration. This the summit intends to bring together the international community on today's global challenges in order to come up together with appropriate solutions. This includes, issues, regarding earth and climate sciences. Space data should be treated now as a shared resource to serve humanity. The summit will also highlight EU tools such as Copernicus and will really assert Europe's lead lead role when it comes to science, in particular for climate. There'll also be light shown on the, possible future for space exploration, habited or uninhabited. You're working on the ESA. We'll have a very high level debate on, at European level, following recent developments in the Artemis area. Third pillar regarding etcetera, competitiveness. Now this is something that should be there for 1 and all. We need to reinforce the existing international framework in order to ensure that we've got reasonable well thought thought through use of space. And finally, when it comes to frequency resources, picking up on the debate that has just taken place and and the, management of space traffic, this means that we need to reaffirm our joint support to multilay multilateralism so that we can deal with the challenges of the increase in space activities. We also want this to feed nicely into the United Nations work ahead of their space summit. The third issue deals with sectoral competitiveness. We hope that this will help us to work on on this area. We need to reassert our position our position at industrial scientific technical and economic level. And the summit will really help companies to put forward the, various, projects. All the agencies are welcome to, join in and really tap into what, will happen at the summit. The final area is security and defense. Space has become a strategic area and has already been declared an operational domain for military purposes. And the approach to space activities from resilience and security perspectives is crucially important today. This pillar is, being prepared jointly with my colleagues from the, army, ministry and working together with your, ministers. And I'm looking forward to working with all of you to ensure that this event is useful for, space in Europe. Thank you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Thank [00:16:00] you. Chairman. Obviously, the fight against forced labor is as important for us as it is for anybody else around this table. In addition to the moral commitment, uh, it also reflects the aspirations of our citizens. And I would like to thank the Spanish presidency for progress made in the negotiations, because we are heading in the right direction. And above all, we're working towards actually implementing this. Our capacity needs to be realistic and efficient when tackling forced labor. We [00:16:30] welcome your proposed compromise with the longer, giving longer time to the control authorities and focusing investigations on the largest operators in the outset. So to your questions, yes, we feel that the Commission should be greater involved for greater degree. We want a much more mobilisation at a European level to ensure a harmonised application. We want the Commission to take the initiative and be a leader in investigations [00:17:00] on third countries, and there are existing tools available for that. We would also like the Commission be involved in managing the investigative networks with a single European platform to gather in information and the the alerts from trade unions, government bodies and so on. We would like the Commission to have the authority to nominate a member state to be team leader. The Commission themselves should be leader if [00:17:30] the inquiry has a European As and a European scale, and also they should support national authorities by training and making tools available. Thank you.”
  EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains
• “We would also like to look at the need to observe deadlines as regards the conclusions of the high level group on wine, and I would therefore like to agree with what Germany, Spain and Italy said. Any targeted modification of the regulation should be what should be welcomed to implement the recommendations of this committee to ensure that we can make good the recommendations on labelling, particularly electric electronic labelling, as well as grubbing up when it comes to the regulation as regards the cross-border enforcement in the area of Utps. By and large, we would share the Commission's approach, and we think that the Commission has a monitoring roadway to ensure that the cross-border cooperation measures are respected, as was done in the case of the 2017 Regulation on Protecting Consumers in the case of the technical Work. I think that a certain amount of work has been done to clarify the measures to ensure that there is a cooperation proves effective. We will also be very attentive to ensure that Member States can carry out, uh, monitoring of those operators who do entrust bargaining to other countries purchasing entities, or we needed to guarantee that we can ensure that there is no way around the regulations which we wish to put into force. Thank you.”
  EU policy on farmer–buyer relations in the agri-food supply chain
• “Thank you. Chair France welcomes the engagement of the commission in favour of the simplification of these matters. It is also. It also welcomes the upcoming Biotech Act and it hopes that it meets the expectations. France also believes that simplification and the application of the rules on medical devices and diagnostic devices for in vitro cases should be in line with the regulations applying to to safer, safe devices. We must ensure that sovereignty and and industrial sovereignty be maintained, and we urge the Commission to accompany the health authorities so that production and, um, and, uh, key key locations for the production of medical devices be supported. This will allow sustainability for the supply and for the good care of patients in healthcare centres. Thank you.”
  Medical devices
• “Thank you chair, and I wish you every success in your presidency. Maria. Firstly, I welcome the publication of a European strategy for the bioeconomy, which will give us a framework to structure value chains supporting innovation and speeding up move from industrial chains, also making sure we protect the environment. However, the success of this strategy presupposes that the bioeconomy benefits. Primary producers are farmers or fishers and our foresters. It must contribute to creating value and diversification of income on farms, with increased value chains closer to resources. It can also usefully contribute to solutions on zero carbon fertilisers, but the primary aim must always be feeding our people. This strategy will not only succeed if it is supported properly, and that's why we must also focus on creating European support instruments. And here I welcome the creation of a future Competitiveness Fund in the union. This fund responds to a French need. It must finance innovation in agriculture and Agri-Food sectors as well as the bioeconomy, which are all vital for our sovereignty. Allow me to stress one thing. It's vital that this fund, as the horizon programme, makes sure that it helps, uh, forestry, fisheries and agriculture. And that means that we link primary production, industrial investment and territorial needs, as well as appropriate governance with all of these stakeholders involved. In addition, the strategy promotes efficient, sustainable use of biomass, recalling key priorities. Firstly, food use. Also returning to ecosystemic services, we must support natural carbon wells and biodiversity. Efficient resource use will also be key in developing a carbon economy. I welcome the fact that this strategy respects this balance and allows flexibility to Member States. Also taking into account the specificities of the outermost areas. Lastly, I recognise the strategic role of forests and wood in this strategy. I also would like to call your attention to the need to fully respect Member States competences in forestry management, and ensure coherence with the Union's forestry strategy. Thank you.”
  Agricultural funding
• “Thank you. Chairman. I'd like to thank Cyprus and and reiterate France's support for these nine countries and for all the reasons that have been set out here. Increasing resilience for agriculture is very important in climate change, in particular as regards water conservation and its use. We must help farms adapt to climate change. It is important to begin work in the short term in order to change and amend the European provisions for support for farmers. A strategic plan, on the one hand, and guidelines on the other, are very important and it is not all necessarily harmonised. We have to look at in the field actions. We have to simplify these provisions, and this must be part of the simplification and cutting red tape that you've already spoken about. Commissioner. Thanks.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “President. Dear Jacob. I'd like to thank you for the presentation of this agreement that your country has set up. France can agree to the reduction on GHGs. We are working on this actively up and down the chain. The solutions to achieve this are multiple. It should adapt the production system of each country. In France, for example, we have a substantial bovine breeding, extensive farming, and we have set up a plan to reduce this from upstream production to downstream processing. This privilege is an approach using incentives by having a national low carbon label, which allows us to make private financing available to the benefit of the agricultural sector. This type of voluntary program is definitely preferable to a more coercive approach. Thank you.”
  Climate efforts
• “Firstly, when it comes to conditionality of aid, from our point of view, the principle of conditionality is very relevant. Still, we want better balance between the binding approach via these obligations and an incentive approach through voluntary tools. From this point of view, we should bring an end to a form of overlap between similar requirements within conditionality itself, between different gases, proper Environmental and agricultural conditions should all be based upon a priority objectives such as jcw4 I'm thinking of, which should be on waterways. Rather than creating new obligations through these gags, which are overlapping with the requirements of environmental regulation, we should instead think about better dovetailing with between the jerks and already provided for provisions within other EU legislation. For GAC two, for example, for wetlands could be turned into a regulation for management. The national framework does already provide for protection for such wetlands. When it comes to young farmers, we believe that it would be very useful to bring back the possibility for them of receiving aid, for investment, for compliance work according to the normal, the applicable norms. As to the challenges of adapting to climate change for farmers, then simplification exercises are suggested by the Commissioner could be an opportunity to Opportunity to harmonize and simplify the rules which apply to hydraulic investment. Under state aid and under Faegre and Feder, because the different rules are somewhat discordant and complex. Finally, I want to reiterate the importance of rationalizing the streamlining controls and on site visits for farmers to lessen the burden for farmers. This streamlining could allow for a single administrative control per farmer per year could be achieved. We've set this nationally, and I think this usefully could be repeated at European level too. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you, Chairman. And thank you [00:14:00] to the presidency. For all their hard work in allowing us to have this text today, we like the text. Progress has been made. Design, as we all know, is an integral part of innovation. You can't have innovation without design and you can't have design unless you're seeking to achieve innovation. So we need to modernize and harmonize our design [00:14:30] and models legislation. We need to make sure that companies make better use of industrial intellectual property protection. On the comments made on the repair clause. I listened to what Poland has said. We believe that this strikes the right balance between the different points of view, and it is a proportionate response to the need to liberalise the spare parts market. We have a [00:15:00] flexible text which allows us to take into account national specificities. That's very important for us. So that. It allows us to preserve the attractions of a national system while at the same time promoting the idea of harmonization. So on behalf of France, I can support the council that's been put the text that's been put to council.”
  Intellectual property rights (IPR)
• “Ensuring that farmers have a greater place in the value chain is a priority for us, and this is why we will be making proposals to review the directive on Utps. We're very keen that we have labelling for source countries, and also a tool to make the most of European products to ensure that consumers can opt for them. With regard to the environmental transition. I think you have struck the right balance between regulatory obligations and measures that are taken. It's also important that we hedge our risk better, particularly with regard to reducing inputs. And we do that by ensuring that environmental services are better remunerated. Finally, developing innovation that is vital for lasting competitiveness of the farming sector. We need to ensure that they have access to innovation and it can be handed down. To close, I want to touch on peas only if there is a threat to health or the environment. I think it is desirable to ban the use of peas if there are no viable or ineffective alternatives. Conditions for using these plant protective products should be harmonised across the EU, as should their permitting and granting processes and conditions for placing on the market. It's important that we accelerate the use of innovative solutions all the way through to using NTS or bio controls or on precision farming here Cheslav I congratulate you for achieving a general approach on the NTS regulation.”
  EU policy on farmer–buyer relations in the agri-food supply chain
• “Thank you. Chairman. I would like to thank Germany for putting this point on the council's agenda. France wanted to co-sign this document. We certainly do support administrative simplification because there's a lot of red tape for organic farmers. The rules that apply are particularly complex, and at the same time, it's important to keep high levels of requirement for organic farming as it guarantees food supplies. But the rules must be simple. The Commission must work on simplification. The recommendation for the fit for future platform is an interesting basis and warrants further examination. Simplifying rules for production, including animal production, labelling. Cost reduction. These are all useful points to.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you. President, I would like to thank Austria for your comments. We share some of your concerns. The [00:14:30] agro ecological transition is essential, but how that happens needs to take into account food security and competitiveness. So there's a balance to be struck to help farmers to achieve the aims of the Green Deal. So we need to square commercial concerns with the environmental concerns. More globally, forestry and agricultural workers need [00:15:00] to be put in a position where they can deal with this transition. So use of pesticides that needs to be accompanied by alternative, reliable solutions. This will also help to boost the acceptance of the Green Deal. Thank you.”
  Agriculture (green)
• “Thank you, chair. I'd like to thank the Cyprus presidency for the excellent work they've done. Thanks to which we can now adopt a partial general approach. France supports the Agora EU's objective regarding the creative and cultural sectors, media pluralism, fundamental rights, democratic values. This will enable us, among other things, to boost and promote linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe as part of a well tuned framework. The program would all would benefit, however, from being more explicit in talking about defending European autonomy. When it comes to the next MFF negotiations, France thinks that we would need to pay attention to AGRA, and France is very attentive to this. We will make sure that there is predictability and flexibility in each of the sectors covered by this program. The breakdown into strands and sub strands must be mentioned explicitly in the council position before the trilogs. France also welcomes the fact we're taking more account of sex equality. It's very important to make sure this is an important part of civil society and make above all, standing up for women's rights. France also wants to talk about the serve plus strand and intellectual freedom. This must come to respond to what is happening within the debate across Europe. France also likes to see the very remote regions and the overseas territories being taken a special account of, particularly by having special projects for them or special criteria for them. Thank you. If I stop.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · EU and national cultural identities
• “Thank you. Chairman. The declaration the draft is, is welcomed. But we need to be aware of the financial and organisational consequences for the national authorities. Standardise online form with a list of information could have an impact on accommodation checks. Battle against fraud. And it involves a large number of international service providers. So therefore we would think that the the capacity to deal with this should be negotiated. Uh, it through the Ebsco affiliate, with a true focus on protecting mobile workers across the European Union and tackling fraud. This is a concern we should all share at a European level. So with that in mind, let me repeat that the revision of the directive on the posting of workers is something we did six years ago, and it's something you need to keep front and center in all our work on this. Thank you.”
  EU regulation of cross-border and posted workers