- 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 “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
- 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)
- “I'd like to thank Teresa, our Portuguese colleague, for your proposal. Uh, this is something we also would support strongly for two main [00:21:00] reasons, but important in their own right. One, the consequence of Russia's aggression against Ukraine can still be felt, are still visible, and there is a succession of crises running from Covid that have pushed prices up. We need all the levers we can pull to help our, uh, fishers and guarantee food, uh, sovereignty and help the sector throughout our territories with [00:21:30] higher ceilings and to prolong the measures. We are talking about full support for that. On working conditions in the Chinese fishing and fish processing and aquaculture industries. Thank you, Pete, for bringing this to our notice. It is a very important. It's about our credibility as well as we can't ask our people to make efforts while we allow import from lower standard, lower social, environmental standard, uh, origins. [00:22:00] We have to act. We have to act energetically. It's about sovereignty, but it's also about being consistent, about what are we saying about social standards, about environmental standards. Thank you.”
Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
- “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
- “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
- “First of all, I would like to recognize that the work that was done in 2022 and 2023 for marketing standards of poultry, so that we could harmonize the EU legislation as well as protect our consumers, that these were long negotiations. And the delegated act proposed by the Commission is a balanced proposal. We must adopt this text definitively without changes. We do not want to reopen negotiations on this topic. We believe this is an inappropriate. We can already put into place a national regulations on labelling and Um, for poultry. We believe that this is enough for marketing standards. Thank you.”
Food labelling harmonisation at EU level
- “Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for putting this point on the agenda. Thank you to the Commission [00:15:30] for the analysis of the situation and the request for a revision. According to the Berne Convention, the wolf populations that's been observed over recent years causes serious problems for animal rearing activities. This leads to an extreme discomfort for animal breeders. France requests that we think about the conditions to be met to ensure species preservation, and the justification for the change to an annex. The consequences [00:16:00] would have to be studied because we'd have to look at wolf management policies and also compensation and further costs that have to be taken on board. So we support the decision to look at changing the status of the wolf in the Berne Convention. And. And also in the Habitat directive in compliance with the National Wolf Plan. We'd also like the union guidelines to be updated. It is important that this reclassification should happen as quickly as possible. It would be useful for the Commission to give further [00:16:30] information as to the timetable and the forthcoming deadlines that are scheduled, uh, for the Council of Ministers. Thank you.”
Nature protection and restoration in the EU
- “56:39 – 11:57:39): Thank you, chair. France agrees with the goal of having a broad interoperable EU rail network. We welcome the European Railway Agency for its actions to promote interoperability and railway safety. We are pleased with the way it's being governed and the distribution of competencies between the agency and the national authorities. The ERTMS will be the keystone of interoperable rail in the EU, so we need to make sure it has the necessary visibility in terms of technical support on the budget. We think it would be wise to bring forward the time frame adopted recently even as we see that there are delays in implementing the budget. Deploying the ERTMS is vital if we want to have a dual use system which works well and which is interoperable. Thank you.”
EU support of rail transport · EU transport infrastructure integration
- “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
- “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
- “This initiative also extends and builds on the point from our Luxembourgish colleagues. And I'd like to greet you, dear Martin. And that was in the January Council. We welcome the Commission's commitment in its vision for agriculture and Food, published in February, to launch an impact assessment in 2025 with a view to a revision of the regulation on maximum risk due limits, the MRLs. This perspective is a notable step forward, but we do believe that we should go further and more quickly. Regulation 376 of 2005 on pesticide MRLs has been in force for 20 years now and is based upon a risk based approach, which is no longer in line with the precautionary principle for the approval of active substances in the EU for several years now. This inconsistency, therefore makes it possible for entry into the EU of products containing residues of substances, which the use of which is forbidden for our own producers. These may be endocrine disruptors or carcinogenic substances. This situation is neither sustainable nor acceptable for consumers or for farmers. Therefore, we call Dear Commissioner, for a an ambitious revision of the 2005 MRL regulation 396 to 2005. By the end of the year, which should, as a general principle, allow for a systematic lowering to the detection limit of our MRLs. If an active substance is no longer approved in the EU. And this principle should become our norm, we are aware of the need of explanatory work, which will have to be done amongst our trade partners, so as to accompany this change, so as to demonstrate the fact that this action is fully justified by objectives of protecting public health and the environment, and that it is compatible with our international commitments, particularly in the WTO.”
Maximum residue levels
- “Thank you very much. Madam president, we too would like to express our support to the Greek people and the Greek government, who have been very courageous in facing up to this terrible catastrophe. And it really shows us that we need to accelerate at the implementing implementation of our policies. And it's a clear message that we need to do more to adapt to the climate conditions. We've said it before and [00:37:30] we should. We need to see this as a clear signal and work together in the months to come on these subjects, which concern all Member states. Thank you.”
Climate efforts
- “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. 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, 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
- “Thank you. And I would like to thank the presidency and the Commission for having organised this conference. Bio security and surveillance are the cornerstone of our work in combating these diseases, but we have to work together to develop complementary tools as part of our control and prevention strategy for the vaccination campaign for HpaI is a [00:08:30] satisfactory. Around 20 million ducks have received a first dose and 16,000,002nd dose. The sanitary the health situation is positive. We only had ten outbreaks since the start of the campaign last year without vaccinations. We were talking about 345 outbreaks. We haven't detected any new outbreaks in France since the 16th of January. The last regulated area was lifted on the 16th of February. France remains vigilant and entirely mobilized. Now, of course, vaccination is something [00:09:00] which should be mobilized in combating other diseases. We would like to develop a vaccination for combating African swine fever and haemorrhagic disease. This is a key part of our overall strategy and we do want to move in this direction. Thank you very much.”
Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
- “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 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. 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 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 very much. And thank you to Greece for mobilizing against the PPR and the serious consequences that it has on goats and sheep. Thank you for your transparency, your spirit of cooperation. And to Sweden as well for combating African swine fever. We have just beefed up our monitoring of wild boar in certain sectors. That makes it possible to identify and collect any dead boar that are found, as we've done in neighboring regions as well. On July, we started a major communication campaign in order to raise awareness among all parties about the risk of introducing PPR by throwing food in the in nature, which can be eaten by wild boar. Thank you.”
Animal diseases prevention and management in the EU
- “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
- “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
- “So I'm very pleased that Spain [00:24:00] too has decided to develop a pass culture. I spoke too to that with my opposite number, and I went to Spain on a number of occasions and we discussed this together. We have a partnership with Germany again, we want to bring our young people together and I hope like Italy, which was behind the pass culture at the beginning, other European countries will join in with this because I think in the longer term, this would be a wonderful [00:24:30] area of ambition for young people providing access to culture. Obviously, you can tailor it to your own country specific conditions and bearing in mind how much budgetary resources you have available, but you might be able to develop a telephone app or a system which is easily accessible for the young people, they can have cultural experience, which might be life changing. It's extremely important. It's important to support the dynamic nature of our cultural industries and artists and creative professionals, [00:25:00] and I hope that we can develop this more in Europe.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “The microphone has been lost for the speaker. Art should be made a European platform for reference, which could broadcast more European content in in all European languages. And I think we've had work on going to make sure that that could happen as well. Numerous countries have been working on solutions over the last few years to increase access to culture among young people. The culture path, for example, many of us around the table here have this kind of tool available now in our countries, and I think we should step up those efforts as well. And finally, we can't ignore the fact that culture also has major influence when it comes to Europe and the outside world. It's something that makes us attractive. It's something that we can show to the outside world, to our neighbors, and we need to be able to defend the European model that we have. Microphone for the speaker. We also need to be able to step up, spreading the European culture beyond the walls and borders of the EU as well. This influence that our culture can have must be anchored in the compass as well. So by way of conclusion, I think that culture is one of the pillars of our European identity. We're strengthening our sovereign instruments today. Our autonomy and culture has to be part of that. It must be at the heart of the strategic work that we have ongoing. In that light. Thank you.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Commissioner. [00:12:00] Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the work that is being done by the various presidencies and by the European Commission, of course, after four years of work, Europe is finally about to become the first democratic country in the world to equip itself with a proper eye set of rules. And under the Czech presidency, exactly a year ago, we adopted a general approach Council's position, in other words, on this regulation. Under [00:12:30] the regulation A.I. system suppliers, which might constitute a risk for people's dignity. For people's health, they will have to have an EC marking. They will have to comply with a certain number of obligations. Otherwise their AI system would quite simply be withdrawn from the European market. Now that is. Are absolutely the most demanding regulation [00:13:00] we have in the world. On AI at the moment. It's very important that we be able to bring this safely home. It's also important that as Europeans, we find it possible to develop our own AI models. We know we've paid the price for that, that those who design the latest technology have more impact on how things pan out than those who regulate those. Innovations thanks to the [00:13:30] work done by the Commission. We have everything we need to develop our own models over the next few years, and that is the reason why, while we understand and why we welcome the initiative of the Co-legislator with regard to, uh, dealing with, uh. General system risks in this eye regulation. While we understand that we think that the provisions that have been raised [00:14:00] now at the end of the four years work should not undermine our ability within Europe to develop our own models and shouldn't lead to us rapidly adopting rules which apply to models where we only really are beginning to understand now what the impact of this technology may be on our citizens lives. And that is why we would wish the presidency, the Spanish presidency, all the very best in the [00:14:30] discussions that you are going to be having with Commissioner Breton tomorrow. But whatever comes out of that meeting tomorrow, it has to be understood that there's an awful lot yet that needs to be done. And we may have to think about having another trialogue over the next few weeks if that were to prove necessary, including with a view to dealing with some of the political points that may remain in abeyance. Chair. Thank you very much.”
Artificial Intelligence
- “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 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)
- “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
- “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
- “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
- “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)
- “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. 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)
- “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
- “18:50 – 11:20:02): You, chair. Firstly, thank you, Cyprus presidency, for the work that's been done revising the CSA. It is a structural text. France has three points of concern, though. Firstly, on data protection, the most sensitive types of data against cyber attacks is necessary to protect the EU from cybersecurity attacks. It's vital that we don't separate technical from nontechnical threats.
France, for this purpose, would like to invite the Irish presidency to deal with certification and its mechanisms on technical and nontechnical aspects jointly, especially for extra EU data access. Another point of concern is the link with the Cloud and AI Development Act. We would need this link for issues to do with sovereignty over the cloud to make sure that we have a clear and robust framework for cybersecurity on the whole.
And finally, work needs to be done for ensuring that the supply chain is protected and that this is done in a proportionate manner. Thank you.”
Scope of EU cybersecurity obligations
- “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
- “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)
- “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, 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
- “Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. president. Well, chair, Commissioner colleagues, thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to debate on the role of research and innovation in order to bolster the EU's competitiveness. Given the insistent findings of the Draghi report, many recommendations that have been issued are important to us. It is vital that we follow them up. I'm thinking in particular about the need to have an ambitious level of investment in fundamental European research so that we can generate disruptive technologies and take the EU out of the middle technology trap. It's important to focus our investment in a restricted number of sectors. We feel that that is vital. We must ensure that we are able to choose strategic topics that we deem to be crucial, not only for our competitiveness, but also to reduce how dependent we are on others. In other words, it's important to be specific and pragmatic to focus on topics in the Versailles Declaration, adopted in March of 2022, appear to us to be a good starting point. As President Macron has said when he recently welcomed Mr. Draghi to Paris. It is important that this report reflects more how important it is that European actors work together to leverage competitiveness, scientific competitiveness and particularly the added value of our research and innovation framework programme. I don't know how you feel, but I have a lot of questions about the ecosystem, and I would very much like us to have a debate on those issues. In order to achieve these ambitions, it's important that we have a holistic public strategy so that we can avoid sectoral initiatives and our investments being diluted. Hence, we need governance that is more robust. It's important that we have various sectoral.”
"Buy European" provisions
- “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 very much. First [00:15:00] of all, I'd like to congratulate the Spanish presidency for the work they've put into these council conclusions. We wanted to make sure that we wanted to have a cross-cutting approach when it comes to opportunities in the rural and rural areas, and we believe that this is well reflected in the conclusions. There are certain areas, such as agriculture and forestry industries that are involved, and it comes to the agrifood industry as well, and the rural dynamic. There [00:15:30] are certain things that are very much connected to land the Common Agricultural Policy, the quality schemes and so on, and the support that this gives to more disadvantaged areas. In France, for example, there are certain projects, anytime we put anything in place, we have a local dimension as well to get as many people involved as possible. Now. I can speak from experience [00:16:00] being elected in a rural area. We want to make sure that we have engineers on our side, so that any engineering that is involved in this at rural areas can be heard. We need to make sure that we remember all from the largest to the smallest rural area. And then. Opportunities when it comes to carbon storage energies and technologies, that can be something that is [00:16:30] imposed by the urban world, but that needs to be something that is built together with the citizens. And then financing, of course, that's important. We've got funding from the Common Agricultural Policy, but given the various new implications, perhaps we can think about new sources of financing for these areas. Thank you.”
Cohesion and rural funding
- “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 very much president. I think the best way to make sure that there is a fair competition and to combat, um, uh, unfair competition is to have a modern, effective framework in the internal market. Uh, the trade defence tools that need to be better deployed and deployed more quickly because we cannot accept that there is unfair competition because of problems at the commission. I'd like to thank president, vice president Ribera. Um, we are very much in line with the paper looking at how the economies are changing. Uh, look, we need to take a long term view as well and look at global competition and also to develop innovation and to have, uh, company growth in the EU. We need to make sure that predatory mergers can be dealt with. Looking at the mergers thresholds. Thank you.”
EU Competition policy
- “Thank you. President. Well, I think this has already been said, but supporting the cultural and creative sectors in this historic transition is imperative. Firstly, we should say that copyright is at the heart of our cultural model has been for more than 200 years, and it's always accompanied technological innovations. And that needs to continue to be the case. The AI act has brought in the principle of transparency, and the aim of that is to ensure fair remuneration for content creators. The Commission [00:14:30] will have an essential role to play when it publishes its guidelines. There has to be a sufficiently detailed summary of the use of data for AI models. Now we know that the cultural and creative sector is key when it comes to AI in France. As an experts committee, which recently submitted a report, and it's recommended that information be provided on infrastructure for sharing data, training and informing people, supporting small [00:15:00] companies and combating disinformation. Now, in order to meet the challenges posed, we think there are three key axes. Firstly, we need to support ethical, transparent AI. That includes respecting copyright and combating disinformation and misinformation. And then beyond the AI act, we also need to think about a number of issues which are still pending remuneration of rights holders. For example, we have actually started a thinking about this already. Also, the legal status of content stemming from generative AI and [00:15:30] also the development of business models and monitoring concentration as well. We also need to ensure that AI contributes to linguistic diversity, to discoverability of European creative content, and that it ensures that um projects can flourish in the cultural sectors using technology. We also need to ensure that the Digital Europe programme can support actions favoring and promoting the use of AI, which respects EU values. [00:16:00] That way, it will be able to ensure that we have labels and standards for AI training and enabling us to identify AI generated content and also, um, benefit, uh, European cultural content. Also, we need to ensure that AI is integrated into cultural careers and companies in a responsible way. We need to ensure secure access to and decent access to a AI skills so that people can best use AI skills. And we need to support companies so that they can, um, [00:16:30] best and most quickly use the opportunities offered by AI. I think responsible use of AI should enable us to ensure a future for people who do. Um, dubbing, for example, or a translation. It's key that we help the cultural sectors. Um in France are um various sectors have taken AI into account. For example, our um cinema centre. Um. Is [00:17:00] focusing on the possibilities offered by AI at European level. Studies need to be carried out to look at the um state to which technologies have been used, and we need to look at training in the cultural and creative sectors as well. With regard to the use of AI. Thank you.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “Thank you very much indeed. We are delighted to present to you the city of Bow'rs, which will be the European Capital of Culture in 2028, together with the cities that have been chosen from Czechia and North Macedonia. We're really delighted with this designation. And we've seen, of course, a high number of very, [00:01:00] um, quality projects that presented their candidacies. I think this is it goes to show just how important this is. When we see how much the citizens value these projects and what it means for their culture as well. So Borge's project revolves around the territories of the future. We'll be focusing on medium and small sized towns. Uh, these are a number of cities, of course, in France and Europe, where we've seen social difficulties and gaps that exist. So we're trying to address those in order [00:01:30] to ensure the growth of the social, economic and cultural level as well. And that's what's at the heart of the programme for 2028. We've got a cultural and artistic programme that's focused on low carbon footprint. We're going to be including contemporary artists, we're going to be looking at transforming train stations, for example, into places of art. We've got a project being launched in night trains across Europe as well, which is presenting itself as a territory for the future, as a lab for coordination [00:02:00] and cooperation at the European level, which will allow us to expand the artistic creativity and show how we can change at the individual and collective level in a positive way. So I would like now to present to you a brief video, uh, in line with the modern technology that we're focusing on.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “Thank you very much, chair. First of all, I wish to thank the Commission for having published the report on the this directive. We share the conclusions reached by the Commission. It is important to fight unfair trade practices on the market. This is a fundamentally important in order to strengthen the position of farmers on the agri food chain. On a European level, we need to strengthen the fight against Utps, and we need to also focus on the rights of farmers vis a vis the buyers. €350 million should be excluded, have been excluded from the directive and some suppliers could be victims of practices of purchasing practices, and these have a direct impact on the farmers. This is why we want the scope of the directive to be widened, i.e. with a minimum threshold for purchases. This would allow the directive to control the suppliers along the chain independently of the size of these buyers. The revision of the directive will allow the um. The lengthening of the list of of the blacklist. Certain practices could be banned. These blacklists could also could also focus, for example, on bans to purchase products at an excessively low price that does not cover the manufacturing price. Moreover, the imbalances in contractual relations could be prevented. And finally, we feel that the flexibility for member States in its application should be safeguarded. Member states should be able to go beyond the directive scope. We look forward to the Commission's feedback, and we will also contribute to the work in order to defend the rights of farmers. Thank you.”
EU policy on farmer–buyer relations in the agri-food supply chain
- “Thank you. Um. On simplification, frankly, I regret that our points and concerns have not been taken into account at this stage by the Commission. Because if we speak first about CSR, as we all know, many countries have already transposed CSR. And so the Post-movement raise the issue on a level playing field between member states. Having said that, we have to to move ahead. We are agree. We agree on the stop the clock for medium sized companies, but we wish for large companies that simplified solutions to be put in place as soon as possible, so we can again find a level playing field on CSS triple D22 remarks. We regret that civil liability is now out of the proposal, because we believe in the European model that we want to build, we have. We cannot give up what is important for us, which is to have a sustainable development and the cooperation of all companies in building a sustainable economy. So we wish the civil liability put back in the in the text. We also would like this responsibility to be borne by large companies because if we want to simplify, it is too heavy for a small company, so we believe that the ceiling should be raised at 5000 people, 5000 employees for companies that would be under this, this rule. This is for those two regulations on cbam. No, no issue. And thank you for the Commission for for the work which has been done. Last but not least, I have taken good note about the proposal of our Italian friends on financing of defence. I think it is a very interesting proposal that we should work on, because that could be a new tool for financing the defence industry in Europe. Thank you very much.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights)
- “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, President. Commissioner, thank you to the Swedish Presidency for the excellent work that you have done. And thank you for stressing the importance of the quality of the text, which means that the compromise proposals [00:09:30] as a whole are headed in the right direction. We fully support the ambitious nature of the text, and what we have to do now is strike the right balance between cybersecurity ambitions for products which include digital components and free movement of these goods within the single market. That balance has to take into account the proper implementation of the regulation without leading to an excessive increase in the workload for Member States and economic [00:10:00] operators. The cyber resilience proposal is an opportunity for us to set international standards and following on from the work that was done in 2022 within the OECD on connected objects. And it makes it possible for the European Union to deal with the problem of cyber security throughout the value chain. The French authorities are convinced that we will be able to move forward on this project and under your presidency and the incoming Spanish presidency. The common objective [00:10:30] for all of us is to reach a quick agreement in Council on a general approach, because this is a text which is a real opportunity for European industry. Thank you.”
Scope of EU cybersecurity obligations
- “France is prepared to provide all of its expertise and support to joint initiatives. In order to increase joint mechanisms, we have to preserve European heritage. Now, this is, of course, an incredibly important for our European culture. And this goes for sectors like media, uh, creative sectors where we need to have a proper shield against any kind of interference, uh, promoting free, uh, plurilateral media, uh, in line with the summit that we had in Kiev. Thirdly, then we need to strengthen the feeling of belonging in Europe amongst citizens, amongst young people as well. I'm thinking of mobility for young people, for example, mobility for artists as well, and for those working in the cultural and creative sectors. Programmes like Erasmus have been hugely successful, as have culture moves in Europe, and I think those kind of initiatives contribute to this feeling, and they should be maintained and indeed stepped up as well where possible. Another initiative, we have the Grand Tour, which we are supporting together with the minister from Italy. It allows for exchanges between French artists and Italian artists, and I think other ministers around the table voiced their wishes to join these kinds of initiatives, which is wonderful and I hope we see more of that kind of thing. And of course, then of having access to culture on a larger scale is something very important as well, which can increase the feeling of belonging.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “Thank you, chair. I want to start with a figure. In 2025, nearly 700 products tested, out from 7 foreign marketplaces in France were considered dangerous or noncompliant. 42% were dangerous. 32% were not compliant. Only 26% were compliant. So this represents a threat to our consumers as well as unfair competition for our producers, and this is why France supports the European Product Act, which is ambitious to modernize the regulatory framework given the challenges we face in terms of this type of trade and digitization. We need to underscore fair trade, and competitiveness of European companies. This is why we support the guidance that has been put forward by The Netherlands with four priorities: legal representation, European monitoring, and better coordination with the DSA, rules on product safety, rules on design, and the European Union customs code. Thank you.”
EU competences on consumer protection and product standards · Liability for online marketplaces
- “Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen, ministers, colleagues. Thank you very much. First of all, Madam Chair and Commissioner for your words. You've set out the vision that you've outlined. And I think that allows me, you know, very easily to to move on to my own comments. Thank you very much. I'd like to welcome. Thank you for for suggesting this debate. I think it's very important for all, for us all, given the European context. But of course, given the geopolitical and international context as well. Europe has been able to mobilize over the last few years and months, faced with numerous new threats we're faced with. And of course, that goes for culture as well. We've seen work ongoing in Europe in certain strategic areas, defense, for example. But culture is at the heart of our identities, of our European identity. You spoke earlier about cultural diversity, which needs to be preserved as part of our own identities as well with the European cultural model. If we look over the last few years, we see that it's been able to be protected thanks to regulations, thanks to dedicated funding, and this has allowed us to preserve and protect and make that culture sustainable. So within the new geopolitical context that I spoke about and the new economic and technological developments we know. I think culture is also an area where we can show our sovereignty at the European level. We're faced with global actors, we're faced with powerful strategies. And so we need to look at the European level to be able to defend our creative sectors and our cultural diversity, which is at the heart of our identity.”
EU and national cultural identities
- “Now, another point that I regret is that we don't talk about European university alliances here, because I think these are efficient levers to create permanent networks of scientific cooperation across the European continent. I think this is really important and it needs to be addressed in the regulation. Moving on now to partnerships. We are convinced that they are a key instrument here to allow scientific excellence and and to allow for technological excellence. Now the framework programme has to, um, finance key technologies to deal with competitiveness issues, socio economic issues and European sovereignty. And I think we also need to stress that member states need to be strongly involved in defining those partnerships, because they are the main financers of these tools. And finally, how the European Competitiveness Fund dovetails with Horizon Europe. This has to be based on an integrated approach, allowing for corridor corridors between the two and really focusing on research and innovation and innovation and technological deployment. We need proper governance to achieve that. Now, just to conclude, let me stress the progress made so far, and I would like to thank the Cyprus presidency for the work done so far. I think the additional technical work is still needed before we can adopt a partial general approach, and this objective, I think, is reachable over the next few weeks. Thank you.”
Research priorities within the EU
- “Thank you very much. President. We agree with the double objective of protecting competitiveness and having two tech technological neutrality and energy electrolysis in Europe. It can be an opportunity Decarbonized hydrogen is very important to our industries and to and for some industries of the future, it will be the only source. So this is not something just that should be renewable hydrogen, because that stands in the way of many new projects, whereas we're in very critical phase right now. So the tech neutral target should be kept on board. But we also need to make sure that there are certain types of competition for decarbonization and reduction of greenhouse gases.”
Low-carbon hydrogen
- “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, Chair. And please allow me to thank Portugal for opening this topic of extending possible [00:23:30] extension of this, uh, compensation measure until the end of 2024. It is clear that the European markets suffer from the impact of Russian aggression, but also face new challenges both in fisheries and aquaculture. Therefore, we support the proposal of Portugal, which could contribute to improve competition and [00:24:00] competitiveness and liquidity in this sector. Thank you.”
Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
- “Thank you very much. I'd like to congratulate the presidency for the progress that's been made on the various different legislative files. And for this information point on the regulation on the European health data space in particular, I would like to thank the presidency for the efforts you have made to strike a compromise on this very long awaited text. [00:26:00] Thank you as well to the member States who, like France, have shown flexibility so that we can adopt this rapidly. The establishment of this data space will involve the processing of data of millions of European citizens. This includes very sensitive data about their personal lives, in a context where we all know that cyber attacks are multiplying, and we all know examples of this. The European health data space will help us to accord additional protection for this, which [00:26:30] goes beyond the GDPR. In addition, the way in which we store the data in EU territory is something that still needs to be discussed. This may be a gap that we haven't filled yet. Third country. Third countries may have access to certain data without reciprocating in terms of protection, and this would ensure our citizens trust in the process. So I encourage the presidency to go into greater detail on this topic, so that all together [00:27:00] we can work towards a solution, as the European Parliament has already proposed. Thank you very much.”
Processing of health data
- “Thank you very much, Romina, for your efforts to get us to a general approach today. There are a number of points that France is attached to. Earlier on, I talked about animal rearing and the inclusion threshold for various types of rearing. We have a difficulty with the idea of fixing a threshold for mixed animal husbandry with several different types of animals we would prefer. Limits by species. But we said we could accept the compromise this morning because we wanted to be constructive and increase our environmental ambitions in Europe. And let me talk about the new compromise on the table, in particular article nine two and 15 three. Energy efficiency is an essential pillar of the 55 pillar. And to get European energy independence. The Energy Efficiency Directive, which achieved preliminary agreement at trilogue last week, has ambitious objectives for energy consumption, which can be achieved without, uh, which can't be achieved without industry buy in. Now on article 15 three A of the IED directive, which would allow us to set new requirements for energy efficiency adapted to each type of installation, are essential to allow us to reach those objectives. Now, the text that is currently proposed creates A real problem of fair competition within the EU, and the rules should be the same for all, for all installations within the European Union. Now on the method presenting at the last minute such a structural amendment, which has never been discussed at technical level and which partially puts into question the fundamental principles of the text, is not a good method. Having said that, there is a risk that we might end up with a blockage and it's high time for us to reach an agreement and to launch the next part of the negotiations at trilogue stage, where we will be discussing all of these points. Therefore, in order to compromise. I can accept the new text which has been submitted to us. Thank you.”
Industrial emissions directive (IED)
- “Monsieur Commissioner. President. Colleagues. France would firstly like to extend its gratitude to the presidency for the progress report. The strategic tech should allow us to lay down key security and resilience and sustainability criteria for space activities within the European Union. It also sets out to set out a single market for space activities. But there has to be done respecting the prerogatives of the member states when it comes to national security. Security of goods and persons and launch activities in particular. In that respect, given, uh, the international responsibilities that apply there now, after two almost two semesters of useful, intensive discussion will be sending to you very shortly and on paper, with some targeted proposals on key elements of the text. We think it's very important that the text guarantee real equality, real level playing field for all actors in this respect. It's indispensable that the treatment reserved for third country operators does not create any distortions in their favor. Thank you.”
EU competences on space policy
- “Mr. President. Chair. Victor, thank you very much for choosing this topic today. Commissioner Ileana, ministers and colleagues, promoting physical activity and sports is at the [00:20:00] heart of the next year, 2024, for France, and its role has been elevated by the president of the Republic as well, with the view to all our national events. Promoting physical activity and sports obviously covers various different dimensions, and I would like to highlight a couple of those. Firstly, strengthening the protection of the integrity of those involved and also the security of sports events. Both of these are at the heart of the European sports [00:20:30] model, which we pay so much importance on. When we talk about integrity, we need to look out specifically for the honourable behaviour of all those involved coaches, volunteers and any kind of club directors or any of those who are coming into contact with children during sports activities. In French law, we have a regime in place where any serious infractions have taken place and do allow us to ban individuals [00:21:00] if a serious and imminent risk has been presented for the health or safety of those playing sports. We would think it would be necessary to have greater coordination and better information exchange at European level on previous legal cases, and also on restrictions which would be placed on individuals should these cases arise, particularly when it comes to the mobility of coaches [00:21:30] within the context of Erasmus+. In order to better protect athletes, particularly children, we've put in place an interinstitutional framework which allows us to collate alerts that have been input where there are risks or cases of harassment or violence. We also need to fight against the manipulation of sports events and competitions. And once again, here I'd like to highlight how important the McClellan convention is for us. To [00:22:00] that end, guaranteeing a safe environment for sports is something we need to do by eliminating violence in our stadia and also combating any kind of hate speech that arises both within the sports field and outside of it as well. We need to fight against homophobia, anti-Semitism and all other discrimination in that regard as well. These are at the heart of our efforts in France, and we do need to continue those efforts at European level as well. So I hope that reflections on these, uh, issues is [00:22:30] something we can do at the European level across all member states when it comes to bonds for entry to stadia, so that we can avoid any kind of risks of violence in European sporting events. Finally, let me mention Ukraine, where people unfortunately cannot, uh, benefit from safe environments for sport. You know how engaged France is. We have set aside €1 million to help the Ukrainian delegation for the Olympics and the Paralympics so that they can best prepare for the 2024 events. Thank you.”
Broadcasting of sports events
- “02:10 – 11:04:32): Faristo Bohlen, Darius. Thank you very much, Darius. France has the floor now, Philippe. Thank you very much, Jim, and thank you for all the work that the presidency has put into this. Thank you, commissioner, and to the commission for, the work and the proposal. As others have said, we think technical progress has indeed taken place, some significant progress, and we hope that the work can be pursued and will lead to a consolidated text. We know that it's an ambitious, goal to recognize parenthood for all children regards to their family structure, including for same sex couples. It's about protection of of children, but also, legal security. It has to be easier through this regulation to have free circulation movement of regardless of parenthood. However, in our national law, we do not allow surrogacy in any form, and there are 2 reasons for that. 1st of all, because a human body, that cannot be bought and sold. It's a question of national of the dignity of person. Therefore, we would be against automatic recognition of a surrogacy, origin, parenthood, carried out through arrangement in a 3rd country. Therefore, we have proposed alternative ways forward. Initially, before you recognize a foreign, decision, there would be a judge making decision as to the outcome of such a situation. In order to protect the superior interests and rights of the child while remaining in line with, the Human Rights Court, European jurisdiction. And we thank you, and subsequent presidencies and indeed all member states around the table for being open to consider this and to considering it also going forward. We, on our side, will also be constructive in our approach to seek compromise, and we think we need to just go on working on this text in all its facets. Thank you. Caristo Boliv.”
Regulation of surrogate pregnancy
- “Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner, we welcome the Commissioner proposal. It's great that we've managed to achieve a quick consensus on this. A recommendation? It's a very well-balanced text. [00:20:00] It provides us with a broad palette of instruments to stimulate the social economy in Member States, taking into account the specific characteristics of the social economy in different countries. So full support from France for this text. And we wanted the Social Economy Action plan to be implemented fully. We want a common framework for the social economy throughout Europe. Thank you.”
EU competences on social policies
- “The Negro box should also include special treatment for outermost regions and, in a cross-cutting way, through dedicated amounts in NRP and envelope specific for what used to be per se agriculture. It's also important for heads of state government to be able to talk to NRP in Council in the reference framework thereof, so this should be put in square brackets when it comes to that. And when it comes to cap, there is no way you can have something that leads to make it non-computerized anymore on Global Europe, Of course, our essential priority is support for Ukraine. This has to be better reflected in the Negro box. But the role of council has to be better underscored in the governance thereof. And one last very important point is own resources. We need more progress. This was supposed to be the day we got the own resources from next generation EU adopted in 2020. Back in the 2020 conclusions, today was the day. And if we want to have conclusions, are ambitious and don't just rest on national conclusions, we absolutely have to make progress on own resources. Thank you.”
Own EU resources
- “Thank you. Chair. Firstly, I'd like to thank the European Commission Executive Vice President, Séjourné, for sharing about the action plans and proving that there are thorough action plans for steel in particular. I do agree that it is necessary to implement these measures as swiftly as possible. In Europe, I think we should also make progress on other topics as well, especially combating unfair competition. We can't allow this unfair competition to continue. Silicium acids, Chinese uh competition and preventing anti-dumping are actions on these fronts are all too weak so far. We need to proceed with the simplification agenda and strengthening the internal market. We must also move forward with our industrial policy, making use of European public money to structure future European value chains, publishing as soon as possible. Info on the European accelerators on chemical policy specifically, by July we're expecting the Critical Chemicals Allowance. This needs to be implemented rapidly and strategically with access to targeted European funds making sure that there's a level playing field, combating unfair competition and practices which don't respect our legislative framework, developing innovations for low carbon technologies in key markets, and highlighting the capacities available under the ETS for sites to decarbonise. Keeping in place a sustainable industrial policy in order to keep flexibility in place and increase electricity among our businesses, we need to make sure this adds value at European level for the first time. We recognise the value of vehicles produced in the EU, but I think we can go further to add greater flexibility for producers that carry out their activities in Europe and prevent further delocalization. We need flexible and light rules, So we are asking now for a five year plan for SUVs and to combat the difficulties of making these vehicles electric. I welcome your proposals on action plans in other sectors such as aviation, railways. These are sectors we excel in in Europe. Of course, there are some difficulties, difficulties in those sectors, but I think it's important to reassure our industry leaders and ensure they can continue to operate. Thank you.”
Chinese clean tech competition: trade barriers and investment caps vs. open market
- “Thank you very much indeed, chair. So the automotive industry can make a success of transformation in its value chain. It's absolutely vital that we maintain clarity around the technological challenges. France will continue to support the objective of 100% electric by 2035. European carmakers are investing massively in hitting that target. This can only be achieved if we get full backing from the EU. That's crucial for the survival of European industry and to avoid it losing out, including in the various supply chain components. It's important that we complete this transition to battery electric vehicles throughout the value chain. We need to provide incentives for battery electric that are as attractive as possible. So as soon as possible we want to ensure greening of corporate fleets. Finally, given the shift to electric vehicles, we would like the Commission to propose in the first 100 days of its new term a solution that is fit for purpose, allowing car manufacturers who have committed fully to electrifying their entire range, not to be paying the price come 2035 or any fines. Thank you.”
2035 ICE phase-out: strict zero-emission target vs. flexibility for carmakers
- “Thank you. Chairman. I would like to welcome this proposal. On identifying priority areas and setting up an efficient system. Yes. This is essential as a link between the European Competitors Fund and Horizon Europe is a key challenge in the negotiations. To the extent that this linkage will determine the very conditions for a strategic approach and the efficiency of our investments. Very briefly, I think we're considering three instruments here to structure this relationship. First of all, uh, an advice tool for guiding scientific and technological choices. A scientific or technical advisory board, which would have an expert group who would be able to see excellence and make the right recommendations to the scientific and technological community. Secondly, strategic steerage, which on piloting, which would look at the Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe, which would ensure the consistency of the whole package. And then finally, specialized decision domains based on thematic themes involving the Commission and national priorities, making it possible to operationalise the programmes being supervised. Thank you.”
EU-level coordination of research agendas
- “Thank you, Louise. Thank you, Stella. I'd like to thank the commission very warmly for this proposal put forward on 5th of July. This is an important and long awaited step, as [00:07:30] Louis said. For France, it's important that we have a suitable regulatory framework for nets that manage risks for human health and the environment. And we what's at stake here is food sovereignty and the green transition. And we shouldn't undermine the contribution that NGTs can make for different categories of plant. We need to have an [00:08:00] adapted regulatory approach for each different category with different risks, which would be the best approach. And we think that those must be science based distinctions for these categories and we will pay close attention to this throughout the negotiations as well as the equivalence measures in the text. A harmonised approach across the EU for Efsa's responsibility and Member States. [00:08:30] The risk assessment method methodologies and the impact for human and environmental health. We hope that these important elements will be borne in mind and the measures must be in line with the objectives of the transition for agriculture in order to help us meet the sewer objectives as well as be in line with the requirements [00:09:00] for PPE products and. We think that sustainability must be a criteria for access to category one and the question of patents should not be included. Risks must be correctly assessed within the impact assessment. This is vital for sustainability. It's [00:09:30] also about food sovereignty and sovereignty in itself, technical sovereignty of the EU. And this has come up a great deal and we need to ensure that we make progress on this. And we know that these processes can be slow, but it is an urgent situation, so we must take action decisively and swiftly. Thank you.”
New Genomic Techniques
- “Thank you for the floor, Madam Chair. So I'll just, uh, say something about, uh, the, um, lowering emissions. As regards the automotive industry, as agreed at the beginning of today's council, um, and here's the approach that I want to You focus on. So we do have this 2040 objective right at the very beginning of that first, uh, part of it. This is a matter of credibility as regards our discussions at international fora, the upcoming Cop. And it's also about, uh, giving a clear signal to various sectors in the decarbonization arena. Now, in order to attain these objectives, we do have to show that we can deliver on 2030 and 2035. And so this means that, uh, well, there needs to be certain adjustments. We can't change the text as it is. No, but we do need to have some room for manoeuvre for flexibilities. And, uh, because the reality which we are facing now is not the one that we prepared for to begin with. And it's the same for a lot of the stakeholders and especially those stakeholders who are very much involved in decarbonization. Now, more specifically Typically on vehicles this uh, for new vehicles, uh, for light new vehicles. The transition has to be done all the while preserving the European automotive industry's capacity in 2020 for electric vehicle sales did not take up as much as was expected, uh, on a global stage.”
2035 ICE phase-out: strict zero-emission target vs. flexibility for carmakers
- “Thank you very much, Luis. Thank you also to the Commission and to you and the presidency for putting this point on the agenda on plant reproductive material. We fully share the objectives of the proposal, particularly the need to have two pillars in existing legislation and auxiliary regulation. Registration of arises. Individual consignments have shown that they work for a number of decades. Secondly, better harmonisation of European level practices [00:26:00] with the necessary flexibility introduced for certain sectors. Underline alignment with the provisions on resilience and sustainability. The regulation change seeks to attain particularly ambitious objectives, particularly the fruit and vegetable sectors, with obligatory indications of sustainability and agronomic value of certain species, and that we would [00:26:30] have to have that perhaps progressive implementation and think about the administrative and financial burden that this might represent to make sure that it is not excessive. More generally speaking, the impact of some changes in the regulation will have to be looked at, how varieties are inscribed in the catalogue or placed on the market, and we will make sure that there is a careful link between this regulation and the future regulation on forest reproductive material. We have a lot more [00:27:00] in the way of reservations. I think we need to take out the production and marketing side of things.
From the genetic conservation side of things. We have to allow member states a degree of subsidiarity to guarantee the quality of material used, and we find it regrettable that the level of harmonisation would actually lead to a lower level of quality compared to what is currently afforded under the legislation. We have to have a high level of quality for forests to be able to adapt to climate change. We will [00:27:30] also remain vigilant in terms of the administrative workload in the forestry sector. As a result of the changes made by the regulation, we have to be able to set the frequency of controls to make sure that the control effort is in line with the risk identified. As for the previous Commission's initiatives on production and marketing of forestry material, we should get the opinion of the Standing Forestry Committee. We think that is the appropriate body to do that, and I would [00:28:00] like to take this opportunity to say we regret the fact that we don't have a point on the agenda today to cover the question of forestry monitoring. We hope that that will also be discussed in our council as of January next. Thank you.”
Sustainable use of seeds in EU policy
- “So what counts in the long run is to support the development of technology of Idea until it's launched on the market by covering the whole value change. And of course, we have to have priority with regard to the strategic segments for the union, for our countries. We have to well identify in the competitiveness fund within horizon. And that's very good. And this opening has got to also be really well accompanied. It must also find an equilibrium between opening up internationally, which of course allows gives rise to excellent scientific excellence and also the security of research to master this technology, which can have a dual vocation. And of course, if you want to guarantee our technologically self-sovereignty and our autonomy within Europe, this idea of a European preference will be central. No preference for Europe, then. No market, no companies, no industry. So therefore, this principle of European principle, principle preference is absolutely fundamental. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you. Philippe.”
EU digital & tech sovereignty
- “Thank you very much. France welcomes the dialogue engaged by the commission to support small scale fishing. And we think that we need to ensure the resilience of small companies in the light of climate change and also fluctuating economic conditions. Negotiations under discussion show us that it is necessary to adapt Cap to go through the necessary transition, the decarbonization of the fleet, but also fishing techniques, and to ensure the foreseeability and the operational ability of standards. It's equally important that we don't at different parties one against another, but we've got to take into account sustainable long term fishing activities. And small scale fishing is a real challenge, and I think we need to evaluate this better with regard to to the allocation of quotas. Transparency of methods is important and the strengthening of socio economic and environmental measures. And we also need to take into account new criteria for the reallocation of criteria for the allocation of resources, decarbonisation, research, etc.. Thank you.”
Funding for fisheries and aquaculture
- “Thank you very much, president. Chair. Allow me to start by thanking the Belgian presidency for this debate on advanced materials. Mastering advanced materials is essential to our industrial competitiveness and reducing our dependency, as well as being critical for our strategic autonomy. The development of these new materials is also essential [00:26:00] to making a success of the digital and green transitions. Coordination amongst Member States and with the European Commission must continue to ensure coherence of our actions and our investments. The creation of the Advanced Materials Technology Council is a major step forward in that direction, and France wishes to be fully represented not just at the ministerial level, but also through research and development [00:26:30] stakeholders. A shared mapping of existing policies, I think, is a prerequisite to this step. However, coordination should not merely focus on Member States and the European Commission. Research and innovation into advanced materials is interdisciplinary in nature, and its fields of application can cover different sectors. Therefore, it is important that all industrial stakeholders, research centres, universities can exchange in a fair [00:27:00] and balanced way. Coordination among different initiatives is essential to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts and from my perspective. The debate around advanced materials should advance should be based fundamentally on European universities, which are an essential lever for the scientists and the technicians we need in order to bolster our international competitiveness. We must make the European Union a leader [00:27:30] in a number of key emerging sectors that are of strategic importance. From our perspective, there are five key areas artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space biotechnologies, and new forms of energy. The fields of application currently identified for advanced materials are therefore entirely.
[00:00:00] Relevant as we move forward, it will be important to also include the health sector. I wish to also add that the environment in which we can test and produce advanced materials has to be taken into account, along with the reflections conducted around the technological infrastructure required in France, advanced materials are recognized as key technologies and have been for some ten years. They are at the heart of the industrial chains we are trying to structure from fundamental [00:00:30] research all the way through to products being placed on the market. The France 2030 plan has allowed us to launch a thematic acceleration strategies aimed to tackle priority needs for research or market gaps. The main characteristic of these initiatives is in the strategic piloting of them by the public sector, while working with actors in the field. There you have it, colleagues. We are convinced that research and innovation are the levers for our prosperity [00:01:00] and that Europe has the right scale to achieve its scientific and technological ambitions. You can count on our support in rolling out this European strategy on advanced materials. Thank you very much.”
EU-level coordination of research agendas
- “This has decreased expense of China. Now we've talked about balance. I've heard all sorts of things about balance and details and so on, but we're all, uh, are we looking at anyone around us who's behaving in this way? Uh, I'm not saying we have to change the way everything works in the EU. In our coalition for industry. We had a very interesting discussion. Of course, we want a strong and dynamic and open European market, but that means we need to have rules which are being respected, and we need to have trade protection instruments which are robust enough and which are implemented quickly. Now, I've said this before, the commissioner was saying just now that we need to have a text which is there to help European industry, that we're there Whether to simplify things, we need to be more effective that self-declaration is the best possible way of going about it for European industry. When we're talking about local content, because we have to be able to say that we trust our industry and we don't want to create more red tape. Well, made in Europe should be coming to Europe, built in Europe. It shouldn't mean that we're opening it up to absolutely everybody. Thank you.”
"Buy European" provisions