Giorgio GORI

Policy topics Giorgio GORI is active on

What Giorgio GORI has said (37)

• 2025-05-21 “E-002040/2025 Answer given by Mr Jørgensen on behalf of the European Commission The internal electricity market brings huge benefits for European consumers and companies, who can rely on neighbouring Member States to meet demand and ensure security of supply. These benefits are estimated around EUR 34 billion per year 1 . The EU agreed on a reform 2 of the European electricity market design (EMD) to stabilise the prices of electricity supply, lower the impact of gas prices and ensure the reaping of the benefits from decarbonised electricity. The European EMD reform strengthens the role of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and two-way contracts for difference (CfDs), promotes non-fossil flexibility to phase out gas, and allows consumers to make themselves less dependent on volatile short-term markets. But this reform requires significant additional steps to fully produce its effects. In particular, the promotion of PPAs, the roll-out of CfDs and the reform of the European forward market are subject to important follow-up work already set out in the legislative reform, in the Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for affordable Energy 3 . This work will be key to complete the decoupling of retail bills from volatile fossil fuel prices. The Commission also supports Member States towards full implementation of the reform. The revised Regulation (EU) 1227/2011 (REMIT) 4 and its framework, including the upcoming revised REMIT Implementing Regulation, enhances energy market transparency and resilience by improving reporting on gas storage, balancing transactions, and hydrogen markets, enabling the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to monitor hedging strategies and detect market abuse. These reforms are complemented by the Gas Market Task Force, which will submit recommendations by the end of 2025. 1 ACER’s final assessment of the EU wholesale electricity market design; ACER, April 2022. 2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202401747 and https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202401711. 3 Action Plan for Affordable Energy, COM (2025) 79 final. 4 Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1227/oj).”
  EU energy infrastructure integration · EU approach to electricity market and prices
• 2024-10-30 “E-002329/2024 Answer given by Ms Šuica on behalf of the European Commission The Commission took note of the European Ombudsman’s decision to close its own-initiative inquiry and replied to its suggestions for improvements on 18 February 2025. The Commission ensures that the EU-funded projects are carefully monitored. This is done through several means, including regular reports from implementing partners, on-the-spot verifications, results-oriented monitoring exercises, and thorough external mid-term and/or final evaluations. The Commission is developing further practical tools in close cooperation with EU Delegations to enhance internal procedures in this area and strengthen the implementation of the human rights-based approach in all its interventions. Some key evaluations are published. For instance, all strategic evaluations on financial instruments are published 1 and in 2022, the EU Delegation in Tunis also published the evaluation of 10 years of cooperation with Tunisia. A website 2 established by the Commission provides access to information on the Commission’s support to partner countries in the area of migration and forced displacement. The respect of human rights is considered all along a project’s life from programming to final evaluation and risks-mitigating measures are applied. Implementing partners of EU-funded programmes are bound to ensure the respect and protection of human rights. Contractual provisions entitle the Commission to suspend or terminate any contract if it has evidence that, or needs to verify whether, the partner has breached any of its obligations. The Commission can also suspend any agreement with a partner country in case it breaches its obligations related to respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law. 1 For instance here is the link for the evaluation of Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument for 2024: https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/document/download/2ffe013e-6287-4a09-8b18e5f426dab2b5_en?filename=european%20unions%20external%20financing%20instruments%202014-2020MN0924364ENN%20%281%29.pdf 2 https://north-africa-middle-east-gulf.ec.europa.eu/what-we-do/eu-support-partner-countries-migration-andforced-displacement_en”
  EU competences on human rights · EU-Tunisia relations
• “(10:51:37 – 11:05:02): Yes. I can hear you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much, and thank you, everyone. Can I see my slides, please? My name is Andrea Gori, and I'm Director CRM, which is the regional organization in Lombardia, Italy. As we've heard, I'm going to be showing you a model, which grew in an individual region of Italy, Lombardy, and how this proprietary network can be useful for the whole of the European Union. The history of mankind is a history of pandemics. In 1962, the Nobel Prize winner, MacFarlane Burnett, spoke about antibiotics and said that perhaps we could talk about the virtual elimination of these diseases, but he has been proved wrong by history. I'll remind you of the big pandemics: plague, cholera, influenza. But with globalization, we've also seen another series of pandemics: HIV, SARS, MERS, H1N1. They have destroyed the illusion that we were living in the post-infectious era and then, of course, COVID-19. This was the first real pandemic in a globalized world. Each generation thought that they had managed to beat the contagion, and each generation dramatically had to change their opinion. Next slide, please. And then the lessons of COVID-19. We learned a lot, but not enough. In fact, we can glean four lessons from COVID. The first is preparedness. This is fundamental. We've got to have this before the crisis. It should not be something that is managed during the crisis. Coordination crises don't have borders. That's why we call them pandemics. And individual responses which are fragmented cost lives and take time. This, the health data has to be comparable and shareable in real time. They are the backbone of any decision. And I think it's also important to underline this fact of communication. It was very important in COVID. It has to be reliable. It has to be decisive and be a clinical intervention. If we didn't have the according to the WHO rather, it's not going to be our last pandemic. And today, we're living in a world which shows us very clearly what the reality is, and I'm referring to the post-COVID world. There's been a continuous arrival of epidemics. August 2024, MPOXX, Clade IP, this was the second emergency declared by the WHO. More than 54,000 cases arrived in Europe and between 2024 and 2025, we had a bird flu with more than 70 human cases and this was a very worrying case of the crossing of the species boundary and was very significant. Then the arrival of H9N2, and it was my group which actually was involved in identifying this circuit. It came to Italy, and it infected one person there. November 2025, we had to deal with the Marburg epidemic. Just to remind you, it's a hemorrhagic fever with a fatality of 64 percent. And even in May 2026, we had a problem with the suspicion of hantavirus, which actually arrived in Milan. And also at the moment, we have Ebola and the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. So we have also to deal with that and the zoonotic spillovers because preparation can no longer be just episodic. We also have to understand that we have to work on various fronts because health is a global concept. It's an open concept, it's due to various factors. Man is responsible for creating this emergency situation, deforestation, land use, all this face makes us have to face these new pandemics. And also misuse of antibiotics increases our problems with resistance to medicines. So climate change is actually enlarging the vectors, the area of the vectors which they're working in, and that's why they can cross areas and across the world, basically. So health, animals, and environment are all linked. They cannot be discussed separately. So One Health is the only logic that we should follow here. We therefore need synergistic systems. Fragmented systems will fail. This is very clear. While, if we have synergy, then there's a better attempt to react because no area, no region, no country alone can come up with efficacious responses. And we have to be ready to respond to the next outbreak. The ability to respond is constructed if we get together with our capabilities. And we have to work upstream and not downstream, not during. We have three levels that we have to work in: the hospitals where the diagnosis and the treatment is done, the region or the nation where they have infectious disease centers such as my own, I think they represent an excellent example, and the European Union. And with our presentation, we hope that that will be a concrete step, a substantive step. Of course, we're trying to work bottom up and start with the at the bottom up to EU level. We've constructed, therefore, this center, and it, under one roof, brings together resistance surveillance, and it's very important. There's also surveillance from the digital point of view, which is very important. We look at AI and how that can help us, machine learning and horizon scanning. And in this way, we hope to be able to use research, clinical field and surveillance. And, again, I give you the example of the Lombardy, 10,000,000 inhabitants. It's the most populated area of Italy, has three airports and a lot of international traffic. And it has the best network of hospitals and research institutes and covers, takes in more than 22% of the Italian GDP. And the region has been taking up €15,000,000 in three years. It's an operative center. And as we know, in May 2026, there was a coordinated Lombardy response to the hantavirus suspect case in Milan. How does our center work? Well, we have two kinds of functioning. First of all, before the crisis, we worked on preparedness. We carry out a One Health research and antimicrobial research, and then we also use digital surveillance. But during the crisis, the center must work as a response center and be an advanced emergency center which can react rapidly and have an action plan over a support network backing up the decisions which are made in the public health arena. So there has to be a possibility to go rapidly from one model to the other in such a way that we transform the response. That is why next slide, please. We are coming up with a proposal for Unity EU. It's a European network. So it's the next step, really, to bring this process into the EU level. Fifteen or twenty hospitals are in the network. They've demonstrated that they can work together in a synergistic fashion, and they can collect in the data, and so on, and harmonize so that this can work on a pan-European basis. There are three pillars to the project. First of all, patient data, which has to be standardized through common processes and a safe platform, a network which is ready to have multicentric research and can create a biobank. We have to have data which is respecting GDPR so that we can get over the obstacles which exist today concerning GDPR and the legislation. It's a risk network which has to be connected up to what already exists. For example, the proposal on health data, and that can be synergistic with other projects, European vaccines, and so on. So there is a synergy, a perfect synergy between the projects. Next slide, please. And I conclude by talking about the three requests we have of Europe. First of all, fund preparedness, not just response. We have to get there early, and we must be prepared. We mustn't arrive later. And connect the network across borders, centers such as the Lombardy center. And these must be connected up, these centers across the EU. And thirdly, make the data flow safely. We must collect them in a common way, in a joint way with joint targets and a joint framework so that these data can be shared over days and not over years as that's what we have today. So from the hospital in the region, it should all go up to the EU level. We've seen that the next pandemic will certainly put to the test all our hospitals and all our surveillance centers. I think this project must be constructed together for the future, for a safer future. Thank you for your attention.”
  Processing of health data
• “Okay. I will speak in Italian. Thank you. The commission's proposed simplification would promote the spread of e vehicles. And in my view, they're on the right track. Yet it's important to maintain high standards for road safety, lab checks, and environmental standards. In this vein, I think it's important to have a revision clause so that the commission can monitor and assess the effects of such simplifications and make changes or adjustments if necessary. The proposal to set up a subcategory for e vehicles, small e vehicles, is also on the right track. Alongside this, I would add a specific comment about the need for social leasing leasing in Europe, would ensure access to small e vehicles for low income households, boosting demand through scale economy, scalability. We also will have new light small commercial vehicles at accessible prices to promote access in urban contexts. In terms of the utility factor, I agree that this measure should be based on up to date data in line with recent technological developments. And hence, I think the commission should update the curve for the utility factor every 2 years to better reflect the real emissions and driving data. We also need to ensure that there are more incentives for e vehicles. Software, geofencing, and limitations on power could be put in place for these vehicles, these e vehicles ensuring lower emissions and allowing, getting users used to plug in habits. Thank you.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• “(09:14:34 – 09:16:46): The war of aggression by Russia has demonstrated the operative relevance of finding low cost military solutions based on software that can be rapidly integrated and scaled at speed. In Ukraine, the SMEs and startups and tech companies have a key role to play and show that defense needs new actors to be able to provide more rapid solutions, more efficient solutions, and more flexible solutions. We have to guarantee that these new actors have a decisive role in our industrial base so that we can use novel products across the union using technologies that could reduce strategic dependencies and favor the development of European value chains. Agile came from this need, needs to react quickly and have easy access and has to finance projects that could have a relevant impact in the short term. And it's good then that the commission has applied the accelerated procedure to appropriate monies for this. There are a few key points that need to be looked at. The role of agile as a pilot project for the implementation for the future fund for competitiveness, we propose that the commission should produce a report presented to the parliament and council as a result of this initiative. Secondly, the finance projects have to meet criteria of cybersecurity as well so they're not vulnerable to attacks. 3, we have to have the adjudication criteria that are clear to work with the new, industrial horizon and landscape, and we have to make sure these these results are achieved. We appreciate what the rapporteur is saying, for example, guarantee that prod products are funded by Agile and make sure that we have the loans going to Ukraine that can feed into this and that we can make sure that we do well in, adopting this.”
  Defence spending
• “Now we we are at the catch the eye moment Uh, two map that asked for for intervention. They are, uh, Mrs. Friis for renew and Mr. Hansen for EPP. You have one minute each.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “Thank you. Thank you. I will speak in Italian. IThe Commission's report on advanced manufacturing published in 2024 throws up the weaknesses in our market compared to international competitors. I'm referring in particular to the lack of transparency of innovation and new patents. So the new fund, The new horizon, are supposed to be going to speed up the relationship between research and market. In addition to innovation, our competitiveness will depend on the ability to make manufacturing more efficient and to increase volume. Automation in the processes, therefore will be determining factor. This is the context and there will be a crucial role to play here to reduce costs. So those who are going to be important here are involved with digitization and upskilling of of workers. The manufacturing platforms will transform the modalities of production, of manufacturing, and there has to be a deep transformation concerning the use of advanced material and new processes. So we hope that the Commission will publish the Advanced Materials Act and a few questions. In what specific ecosystems will the AI be more significant? What will the impact be and what measures can be implemented for these processes in order to make them more widespread? And finally, the circularity factor is vital in order to have green transition. So what incentives to industry are you going to foresee in order to have use and recycling of materials? Thank you.”
  EU research funding · Circular economy
• “Thank you. Chair. I have a couple of questions for Mr. Gottfried about the revised regulation. I will make it in Italian. no, we agree there needs to be a commitment to fight against high energy prices for electricity. That's clearly a priority for the parliament. On this, I'd like to ask you the following. Do you not think in Asia that there is speculation on going in the energy wholesale market? And this is very relevant in determining the the bill footed by individuals and companies and revising the remit to regulation Nation has freed up sufficient to tools has it to fight against this speculation, particularly speculation pursued by people from outside Europe.”
  EU approach to electricity market and prices
• “Thank you very much. Now we host today, uh, the representative of the commission is Miss Carmen La Plaza Santos, head of unit health, Innovation and Ecosystems. You have the floor for four minutes, please. **Carmen LAPLAZA SANTOS (Health Innovations & Ecosystems-RTD.D.2): Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today for the European Commission and for the continuous dialogue on this crucial topic. So the Commission appreciates the draft report from the rapporteur, Mr. Bentley, and the interest in general by the European Parliament and welcome the recommendations, particularly on the role of the Framework Programme and the joint undertakings. This sector is very strategic, not only for our competitiveness, but also for the green clean transition as it delivers innovative solutions in a number of areas that you have already pointed out, like health, food, agriculture and many others. We have a very strong research ecosystems in Europe. We are very competitive on life science, leading in high quality research and publications on the world. However, unfortunately, despite some remarkable success stories like the mRNA vaccines and others, the European Union is less successful than competitors in bringing these innovations to the market and overall profiting from research and innovation investments, as you rightly point out in your report. The Commission highlighted this and other challenges in last year's communication on biotechnology and biomanufacturing, and some of these challenges were also mentioned in the Draghi and later reports and are reinforced in your draft report. Complex regulatory framework, investment and venture capital ecosystem that is fragmented and insufficient, and difficulties in scaling up innovation, just to name a few. Competitiveness compass that was adopted two months ago further underlined the great potential of life science, and we are currently busy preparing the new strategies, like the European Life Sciences Strategy, to be adopted in the second quarter of this year, and the European Union start up and scale up strategy, also to be adopted in the in the second quarter, a little bit later in the year. **Carmen LAPLAZA SANTOS (Health Innovations & Ecosystems-RTD.D.2): The European Union update of the bioeconomy strategy and later in 2026. The biotech act. So this is many strategies and initiatives in the making. I can assure you that we are working very hard across the different commission services to ensure coordination and alignment between this very much interconnected initiatives that we hope help clarify the complex regulatory framework and not the opposite. So coming back to the European Life Sciences Strategy, the main objectives is to make Europe the most attractive place in the world for life science. And this is quite important taking into account the current geopolitical situation. This initiative will will present a comprehensive, cross-sectoral and forward looking umbrella strategy for the faster development, translation, deployment and uptake of life science innovations in the European Union. It is expected to announce actions to capitalize on our strengths that are many, but also to address the weaknesses that are very much highlighted in your report very rightly. Together obviously with Member States. One important point is that we want to include in this strategy the importance of attracting talent and to ensure that we have the skilled workforce that is needed, because this field particularly is evolving very rapidly. So it is important to give adequate consideration to ensure that Europe has the required workforce and the appropriate frameworks in place to develop the necessary skills and be able to apply them. **Carmen LAPLAZA SANTOS (Health Innovations & Ecosystems-RTD.D.2): So currently we have a call for evidence open until the 17th of April, and we look forward from hearing from all stakeholders. Also, as regards the Biotech Act will not target a single sector, but will rather be a package of actions aimed at making it easier to bring market biotech products in the European Union and to develop them. Of course, as I said, this act is intended to be adopted next year, so that allows sufficient time for a comprehensive consultation with all interested parties, and a careful assessment of the impact of the measures to be proposed. Important also to mention that public awareness of the opportunities that biotech offers is a very important factor that we will not neglect, because it is critical for the successful uptake of innovative biotech or bio based solutions. So in this particular case, we would welcome your support in reinforcing the message that safety will never be compromised. Just to end, let me mention the importance of the collaboration. If we really are to reap the full benefit of biotechnology and biomanufacturing for our society. We need to work together, and that's why we particularly appreciate this constructive and active dialogue together with you. So thanks for the report that we will obviously take into account when preparing or while preparing our strategies.”
  EU support for bioeconomic applications
• “So I, I would like to thank Mrs. Cavada director for secure and connected space in DG DEFIS for being with us today. Director Cavada will provide detailed information on the 12 year Concessions contract for the infrastructure for resilience, interconnectivity and security by satellite. The so-called Irish Square, which was signed by the Commission and the Space Rise Consortium on 16th December last year. The signature is a significant milestone in the establishment of an autonomous and secure connectivity system of the union. I would now like to give the floor to Director Cavada for five minutes to make their opening statement. After that, I will pass the floor to the representatives of the political groups.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Uh, we will start with some announcements. Um. As usual, today's meeting is web streamed, and the interpretation has been requested in all languages about the 2027 budget. The deadline for amendments on the E3. Opinion to the guidelines on the 2027 budget is Friday 16th January at 5 p.m.. The amendments should be in English only. Yes, yes I can. Um. The coordinated decisions of 3rd December 2025 have been communicated to all its members by email, and I propose about the minutes I propose to adopt the minutes of 11th November and 20th November. So we are at the item number five. Uh, we have the exchange of views with mismatch or Stauffer, Deputy Director General for energy at the European Commission on the Delegated Act on Projects of Common Interest and Projects of Mutual Interest. Uh, Mrs. Wörsdörfer replaces the director general Ditte Juul Jorgensen, that cannot be with us today. I want to thank you for being with us. And after the opening presentation by Mrs. Wörsdörfer, we will start with the first round of questions by coordinators of the representatives. Mrs. Dulfer is then given the floor for her replies, and time permitting, we will continue with the catch the eye. I now give the floor to Mrs. Waldorf to make her presentation. You have ten minutes, please.”
  EU energy infrastructure integration
• “Mr. president Commissioner. Good morning. In recent months, the Trump administration's policy has attacked the UK, the US education and university system. Trump has cut funding to universities and restricted academic freedom. These choices weaken the attractiveness of the US for global researchers and talent. The scientific journal nature has found that job applications from US scientists abroad rose by 32% between January and March 2025, a year on year for 2024. The European Commission has seized this opportunity by announcing a €500 million plan for the period 2025 2027 aimed at attracting international researchers. Among the measures planned is a seven year super grant managed by the European Research Council, offering stability and double incentives for those moving to Europe. This initiative is a step in the right direction to strengthen Europe's position in global scientific research. However, more needs to be done. Over the last 20 years, Europe has lost a lot of ground compared to other regions in the world. Above all, China and the US in terms of its ability to attract investment for research and nurture talent and projects in the most advanced sectors of innovation. This is one of the causes of Europe's declining competitiveness. The Commission's initiative does not go far enough. Member states must be encouraged to build a legislative framework that can enhance and sustain the skills of researchers. This includes those who have emigrated and whom we want to return, those whom we want to attract, and above all, those who have stayed but live and work in precarious conditions. National funding and researcher salaries must be increased. Solid and transparent career paths must be designed. And for those who choose to come to Europe. Visa procedures must be simplified. Only in this way can research flourish in Europe, becoming a driver of innovation and growth. Thank you.”
  Research priorities within the EU
• “Okay, thank you. I give the floor to myself for the second question. I'll ask a question of both of you, actually. The question of access to space, I think you've said that this is a strategic factor. Without autonomous capacity of access to space, we'll be dependent, we won't be autonomous, and that's a major limit on the European ecosystem for space. But what needs to happen for there to be launch capacity in Europe within a reasonable period of time which is competitive with what is supplied today by SpaceX or other players? And that was really picking up on Mr. Ehlers' question, is it a question of supply or demand? Because it seems that the demand, too, is weak in Europe. Now, my second question is this. I think there are public investments which aren't sufficient. There's a plurality of small, interesting companies, start-ups, which are very vigorous. But there's a lack of big players capable of making big investments to make launches which can be compared with SpaceX ones or reusable rockets which cost a lot. So I'm wondering if your companies are thinking, I mean, you're the biggest in Europe. I'm wondering if you're thinking about coming together to produce competitive groups at global level, or do you think that could be boosted by the European institutions?”
  EU competences on space policy
• “President. Commissioner. Colleagues. Strengthening our energy infrastructure is a major way of ensuring European security and competitiveness and reducing energy prices. So we need to look at the obstacles in our way. Low levels of interconnection, dependence on fossil fuels, insufficient investment. Those are the problems. Permitting is a major part of the problem. Member states are not doing enough. Italy got a rap on the knuckles for not fully implementing the 2023 Renewables Directive. Nonetheless, the Italian government is further restricting the range of renewable renewables at plants that can be recognized and used. We need to restart permitting with silence and planned consent. We need to ensure that the EU can play a useful role, but it's basically up to member states to achieve implementation because otherwise the legislation will remain unimplemented.”
  EU policy on permitting for renewable energy projects
• “Commissioner Kubilius, ladies and gentlemen, the security backdrop of our continent is worsening. And that means that our continent has to take direct responsibility for defending our citizens. We can no longer afford to squander money and to be inefficient. Standardisation, joint procurement and interoperability have to become the rule. Defence is still within the remit of the member states, but the EU can coordinate, provide financial support and go for industrial integration. And we really have to push forward with this. This is the pragmatic approach to a common European defence. But now we need a quantitative and qualitative leap. We have already decided, obviously, that we've been helping Ukraine and we need to some degree, some, uh, common debt or joint debt. And then we also have to harness AI and the green transition. If Europe is to become a power, we need to invest a lot more. And the only way to do it is to invest together.”
  EU competences on defence
• “Thank you. Good morning, director DaCosta. I was interested to hear what you had to say about how just how punchy the European space programme is. But I would like to pick up on a weakness. In other words, autonomous access to space. We are mindful of the problems of Ariane and Vega. It seems that the major world players, the US and China, are developing launch capacities which go far beyond ours. There's a lowering of costs there. And Europe is not able to contend with that. But maybe I'm wrong. So how do you intend to win back ground as quickly as possible? Closing the gap, which there appears to be between Europe and primarily the USA in terms of launch capacity? So closing the launch capacity gap is important. And what about a reusable launches?”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Uh. The rules are the same. So one minute for for each intervention, then four minutes for you. Um, I will start in Italian with, with a question about space. Vice president. Space. Vice president. Space will triple its value in the next ten years. The economy of space. However, to keep up with the US, China and India, we know that we need a huge investments. The question is how much will the European Union invest? We don't know because the new MFF doesn't have a budget line for space. There's not a space program with targeted. Specific budget. We've got a 130 billion given to defence and space. We know that defence and space has a lot of points in common. There's a lot of dual use products, however. The military exploration of space is not the same thing. Having to share a budget with the military at a time when the defence industry is being boosted could be a benefit or it could be a problem. So how can you guarantee that the European space industry will continue to grow? How can we be sure that defense will not drain? Most of the investments currently allocated to both budget lines.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Thank you. The second speaker is me and I will speak in Italian. Il IL teatro di questo.The title of this debate is uh, uh, challenges facing technology. Nuclear fusion is a significant challenge, but could be a significant source of energy in the source. But is it something that is practical? We know that it's going to take a long time to develop this, but Europe has now learned that energy autonomy means strategic autonomy or security and freedom. And so this means that we have to see nuclear fusion and look at it with a great interest, despite the commitment and effort that it's going to take to develop it. Waiting for the publication of the strategy by the Commission. I do have some questions to the representative of the Commission. Do you think that the European Union can effectively lead the rolling out of this technology at global level and be a standard setter, and if so, under what conditions? Do you think that the new MFF has enough financial resources for further development of this technology? Or to ensure or if we want to ensure European leadership, do we need further investment? How do you see the initiatives being taken by certain Member States when it comes to nuclear fusion? Do you think there's a risk that we might see even more fragmentation and therefore dispersion of efforts and resources? Would it not be better to bring member States together in a European project? And on this, do you not think it would be better to create an agency, perhaps the fusion for energy, who could, um, work operationally in this field? Um, playing a different role from the one played by the space agency, for example. Thank you.”
  Nuclear energy
• “Thank you, Nils. Now I will give the floor to the shadow reporters to speak two minutes each, followed by any other members under the Catch the Eye procedure. I invite all members wishing to take the floor to place their name plates vertically in the orders. The first shadow is Bruno Gonsalves for S&D. Two minutes.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “We have an hearing about space governance and boosting industry, responding to challenges. I would like to welcome all the speakers for this public hearing. Thank you for having accepted our invitation. Our speakers today are Professor Antonella Forganni, de l'Ecole Supérieure de Sciences Commerciales d'Angers, Mr. Paul Vorel, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations, Mrs. Stella Gwilym, chief commercial officer at ISAR Aerospace, and Mr. Massimo Comparini, managing director of the Space Division at Leonardo. As you know, the Commission will adopt the space package on 25 June. Today's public hearing will provide further input to help us in our work, notably when amending the Commission legislative proposal for the Space Act. We have one hour and a half for this hearing, which will be conduced in accordance with the speakers' list. So I invite all members who want to take the floor under the catch-the-eye to put their nameplates vertically in their orders. The hearing will be divided in two. The first panel will tackle the institutional aspects, and in particular the very unique governance in Europe as regards space policy. I would like to start by giving the floor to Professor Antonella Forganni for five minutes to make a presentation. Thank you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Yes, I have a question for Stefano Quintarelli regarding the concepts of freedom of expression and accountability over the content of expression. I found very effective the example of the pub compared to what is conveyed through a newspaper or television network. This leads me to think about the regulation regarding the transparency and the accountability of different accounts from which content posted on social networks originates. Differentiated according to the number of users they are able to reach. Is that that you that you are proposing and how would it work concretely?”
  Digital platforms liability for harmful and illegal content
• “Okay. Thank you. Now it's up to me. I will speak in Italian. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. Then on the omnibus, which I think is going to include this new subcategory of small electric vehicles, we know that 70% of electric vehicles which are sold new in Europe are big cars or SUVs. And we need to speed up this access to the electric vehicles in the regulation. It says there's going to be this super credit to incentivise production. But then I think we can also improve demand. We need to have incentives. But they're too generic as far as I can see. And we are limiting ourselves to just having recommendations, which are only going to be then made by the member States, then on the battery booster. Now this is a transition bridge measure, which is using resources from the current MMF 1.5 billion. Yes, I agree with Mr. Eller, 1.5 billion is really not adequate when it comes to the need to scale up European production quickly, and we hope that in the Industrial Act we'll see something else. And then in the MMF, then European production of batteries. Well, today that means producing and assembling the cells. And it doesn't say that we also need a strategy for refining the raw materials that are put into them, because China currently has 90% control of that at global level.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• “Thank you. Anybody else? No? So, I give the floor back to Joseph Weidemann and Mr. Camporini. You have five minutes to give the answer that has been requested. Two minutes and a half each. **Josef Wiedemann (Isar Aerospace) Thank you very much. I will try to answer as many questions as I can in the two and a half minutes. So, in the order chronologically, what is the bottleneck? The bottleneck definitely is launch. Contrary to, let's say, common belief, launch is a real scarce resource. With these three launches we have in Europe, it's by far not serving, it's by far not enough to serve the market. Looking only on the institutional side, let's say demand might be a little scalable, but on the commercial side, I can comment on that firsthand as a sales director, we see clients from all over the world coming to us asking when we can launch them. Because they want competition, they want competition to the existing players, and if you can have a payload to be launched soon, basically you can go to the American competition. Arianne and Vega are sold out for a very, very long time, towards end of the decade. Simply, there is no one that can launch your payload. Same for the defense actors, MODs. We see huge demand, and I really need to highlight, you need to act now and secure spots to launch, because there is simply no one that can do it. Even putting aside, let's say, political complications and dependencies that made the rise for selecting a non-European launch service provider, but demand is huge, and you really should focus more on the demand side. There is enough demand for competition. There is enough demand if you bundle it, if you bulk buy and sub-vent developments. So this was a very important topic that has been also mentioned by another question. So how can you foster that, or what is the effect? Factually speaking, we have gotten one contract from European Space Agency and DLR, the so-called micro-launcher challenge. It was 11 million euros, and it allowed us to collect 400 million of venture capital, not institutional money, privately funded. So there is a market, there is available funding, it can be done. It's not hypothetical, and it's not only an institutional market. What needs to be done by the European Union is create institutional demand and create it in a way that allows competition. Simple example, if you make a call for many small satellites, so-called constellation, instead of one big satellite to serve the same purpose, you suddenly open up the whole tender for multiple competitors instead of the heavy launcher we have in Europe. So one big satellite is per se Arian, for example. Many smaller satellites you can give to different actors. Just a quick example. So by this, you have huge levers in your hands to create a commercial ecosystem. And by doing that, you allow us to develop the launcher that you need, and we can sell this launcher to third parties on commercial conditions. So it's a win-win for everybody. What else has been mentioned? I think what is important, the infrastructure. So CSG is the European launch site. In theory, it's easy to access, but there's a lot of bureaucracy attached. So we would definitely want to launch from CSG, since the question was from where. Test sites, new launch sites, is in priority a huge infrastructure project. So we need public support to implement it like an airport. Consider it like an airport. It's a very similar infrastructure. It cannot be born solely by the airlines. It needs, as a general infrastructure, support by the governments, both European or national, and this needs to be streamlined and aligned on the regulatory side as well. And I think I'm out of time, so I'd like to hand over to you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Thank you. Mr. Wohrer. ** Paul Wohrer: Thank you very much and thank you for the questions as well, they were very interesting. With regard to single legislation to boost governance, well I think work is underway already today in the European Parliament. I mean there is some lack of consistency in the rules governing public procurement and EU management of the programmes and the rules governing the ESA with regard to the geographical scope. If we look at the Draghi report, there was a recommendation for greater flexibility. I think clarification of rules, particularly those to do with the management of programmes decided at EU level, could be a good thing, particularly when it comes to decision making capacity, decisions to award contracts, despite ESA management of those major contracts. I endorse what was said before about the markets. SpaceX has really created demand for satellites that wasn't there before, but if you look at the budgets at play and the support given from the American space programmes, not just subsidies and grants but actual contracts for military and civilian purposes, overall the number one client for satellite systems is governments, whether it's the US, China, Japan, Europe. These are mainly used for public service purposes, civilian or military. Europe did manage to do very well on emerging commercial markets back in the 80s, satellites, satellite TV and so on. We're still a leader, but we've seen market developments, meaning that the industry or the idea that the government would be rather usurped, that hasn't happened. We see players with very great ambitions and corresponding budgets. With regard to rapprochement between EU and ESA, I think that has been touched on. What is curbing Europe's strategic autonomy? One of them might be political decision-making, governance, duplicating capacities and so on. But I think the main curb is a budgetary one. If we look at the latest figures, the American space budget for $80 billion for civilian and military purposes, now Europe's budget, including ESA national budgets and the EU budget, is around $16 billion, well under $20 billion. And when it comes to defence, we're talking about around a billion, though there may be some dual use, public regulated service in Galileo and so on, but fundamentally the investment is very low today, given industrial capacities, there's overcapacity in Europe and the drop in markets, and there are these geopolitical challenges currently facing us. So in the light of that, investment is low. And then sustainability. I think the EU and Europe in general has an exemplary vision, the best in the world, when it comes to sustainability, management of debris in space and so on. As far as France is concerned, there's a law on space operations. That's very important. Many operators have to comply with that. I think the relative weight of Europe has tended to go down, and that really curbs the political influence of the European vision in the field of space when it comes to regulating space activities for sustainability. I'll leave it there. Thank you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “So my understanding is that as far as fines are concerned, the decision will be reached in the Strategic dialogue with the president. But I'd like to take this opportunity to come in with a very quick question. There's great diversity in terms of use of ETFs in Germany. Companies will actually get a huge amount back in about €3 billion. The government gives them that money back. But in Italy the money goes into the state coffers and companies only get a very small. Proportion back 150 million of 600 million, for instance. Do you not feel. That it might be helpful if the Commission were to give some more orientation there, and that all the money be ploughed into decarbonisation?”
  EU policy on sustainability criteria in public funding
• “Thank you very much. So we have concluded this item and now we pass to the hearing. ***Reinventing European space governance and boosting industry: responding to challenges”
  EU competences on space policy
• “Good afternoon Commissioner. Let me come back to the issue of steel so that that I can ask you very specifically about scrap. We are pushing the steel industry to decarbonise, which means they need to use electric ovens fed with scrap. But there's an increase in demand for scrap. And I'll raise this at the press briefing, too. But is that to be labeled a strategic raw material then, so that there will be restriction on exports so we can keep that material, which is important in the EU. Secondly, is on the EU Preference to Clean Industry Act says that public procurement, procurement will rules will be looked at again and that preference has to be given to EU sourced materials. Could you just lift the veil as to what EU preference might mean and which sectors will be covered by it? Thank you.”
  "Buy European" provisions
• “Thank you, chair. I will speak in Italian. The war of aggression by Russia has demonstrated the operative relevance of finding low cost military solutions based on software that can be rapidly integrated and scaled at speed. In Ukraine, the SMEs and startups and tech companies have a key role to play and show that defense needs new actors to be able to provide more rapid solutions, more efficient solutions, and more flexible solutions. We have to guarantee that these new actors have a decisive role in our industrial base so that we can use novel products across the union using technologies that could reduce strategic dependencies and favor the development of European value chains. Agile came from this need, needs to react quickly and have easy access and has to finance projects that could have a relevant impact in the short term. And it's good then that the commission has applied the accelerated procedure to appropriate monies for this. There are a few key points that need to be looked at. The role of agile as a pilot project for the implementation for the future fund for competitiveness, we propose that the commission should produce a report presented to the parliament and council as a result of this initiative. Secondly, the finance projects have to meet criteria of cybersecurity as well so they're not vulnerable to attacks. 3, we have to have the adjudication criteria that are clear to work with the new, industrial horizon and landscape, and we have to make sure these these results are achieved. We appreciate what the rapporteur is saying, for example, guarantee that prod products are funded by Agile and make sure that we have the loans going to Ukraine that can feed into this and that we can make sure that we do well in, adopting this.”
  Defence spending
• “I too would have a question for you, you do it in Italian, some question. So my first question is this, where are we? How much time do we need to have the constellation actually operational? And is there any way of speeding things up? And the second point is a question I asked previous speakers about the lack of European launch capacity. And do you think we can stay as we are with this fragility dependent on others? And if not, what do we need to do to become competitiveness, to become competitive? The standards have gone up. Competitive today means having reusable competitive launches with reasonable prices on the market. So it's a demand side issue, it's a supply side issue, I guess. And then the EU investment for defense, could that become a driver with regard to the limitations we're coming up against that have become so clear? Thank you.”
  EU competences on space policy
• “You're the first. How is the space package as today? Presented as a topic of governance within the European area? The Draghi report underscores this. And please, could you tell us a little bit more about the space Team Europe and the stock forum, particularly at the high level announced by the communication on the Space Act? Looking at environmental Mental sustainability. We think it is very positive that this is tackled in the regulation. How? However, are we going to ensure within these rules that also competitors from outside Europe follow our positions so that we can guarantee a level playing field for the operators in the space economy? And finally on defence. You have a series of proposals presented by the Commission in this mini omnibus, and this is moving towards opening programmes in certain sectors, giving them better economic resources, sustainable with their activities. How can we ensure that all these provisions that really meet to our objective of creating a common defence and don't contribute to the already existing fragmentation between member states in these cases? Are there enough incentives to make sure that member states share projects? Member states share projects within the Common European Industrial Area?”
  EU competences on space policy · EU competences on defence
• “Thank you very much, Miss Waldorf. Now we go to the coordinators or group representatives with the intervention of two minutes, starting with Sean Kelly from for EPP.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “A hundred days of the Trump presidency have been characterized by an enormous amount of turbulence in trade relations around the world. It's like we're on a roller coaster to come back after 100 days of basically to the starting point where we were at the outset, suspension of reciprocal measures with Europe, an agreement with the UK, The most recent news that we have in EU or US China negotiations make us understand that Trump is perhaps a realized reality, and he's trying to mitigate the damage on using tariffs in an aggressive way. Well we'll see. Whatever the case may be, I think in the weeks to come, the European Commission has reacted extremely well, shown itself to be competent, firm, but all the while having a real clear headed approach and not being dragged into provocations. Now, I'd like to just draw the attention to one point that I think really came before a US tariffs, and that's trade relations with the East, with China specifically, and with other countries in Southeast Asia that have been characterized by over productive capacity and subsidized products that are being dumped on our markets and unfairly competing with our products. Now it was and is a problem. It would have become a much bigger problem if the U.S. tariffs, the tariffs between the U.S. and China would have remained in place up until yesterday or the day before yesterday. Apparently, no. That is no longer the case. But I think that it's a real issue of safeguarding EU products and the EU market against unfair competition from China and other eastern economies. Thank you.”
  Trade relations with China
• “Thank you chair. I will speak in Italian. I'd like to thank the experts. And I would like to ask a couple of questions at the beginning of this term. Accent was placed on costs of energy in Europe. First of all in the Draghi report and also in the clean industrial deal to a plan for accessible energy beyond any initiatives which include the package. The network package. Now, the idea was to merge climate neutrality and competitivity via specific measures. I would say that especially in Italy, we've been talking about how we can detach, um, detach energy prices from, uh, in, in what's known as decoupling. And so that people can see this in their bills, in their electricity bills. And the whole point is to ensure that the European energy market works smoothly. But we've got to also look at long term contracts, which have already been mentioned in the study, which we've been listening to. Now, obviously, we've got to look at the different types of contract. At the moment, only a few countries are have got the new types of contracts. We've got to have a look at the obstacles, but we've got to not only look at these, but we've got to have a look at the kind of contracts that you've got in Spain and Germany.”
  EU approach to electricity market and prices
• “Thank you president. I will speak in Italian. I have two questions for the Deputy Director general. We have a legislative framework. Now, I don't know how effective it will be, but it is not, uh, an incentive for production or import of low emission hydrogen. What additional instruments is the Commission working on in order to ensure that there is an increase in low carbon hydrogen production and renewable hydrogen. Question two nuclear. Why did you decide to postpone adoption of a methodology for PPA, nuclear energy and direct nuclear source hydrogen production?”
  Low-carbon hydrogen · Nuclear energy
• “Thank you. Chair. I knew that I would add four five minutes instead of four, but it is okay. I will speak in Italian. Well, I'm very pleased to be able to present to you this resolution to the committee. I'd like to thank colleagues who have helped me give form to this. We've had some shadow rapporteurs meetings, two of those and three technical meetings. I believe that we have been able to have a meeting of minds on some very important topics. This is extremely relevant, especially at this particular juncture in terms of complicated geopolitical relations and increase in protectionism. And I think it's absolutely essential that we can protect our essential companies who are working in this sector, in the energy intensive industries. The resolution itself, I'll just give you a summary in six points. I think the most important point concerns energy prices. We see a necessity to reduce energy prices in general, but in particular energy intensive industries. Bills we refer to the efficiency of electricity market design. Having power purchase agreements and contracts for difference. Looking at the longer term, we need to have de-risking as well to have an effective spread of these sort of contracts, because it seems to be in a minority at the moment. We'd also call on the commission to look at best practices and price pricing and refer to best practices. We can see in Italy, for example, such as energy release and the price of gas is also important. As you know, we have a cost sector here for the energy coming through electricity. And the clean industrial deal set out some important points there. We've been over that, and we need to look at state subsidies to help reducing gas prices. The second point concerns public private partnerships. We need to see investment, otherwise we Otherwise we won't have a transition. We won't see benefits. We'll be losing jobs on the MFF.”
  EU approach to electricity market and prices
• “Good morning Commissioner. I would like to raise the issue of fines on car manufacturers in 2025 on sales. This will not reach decarbonisation targets as defined by the EU. In response to a recent question, you said that some car makers are concerned about not reaching their objectives in 2025, but there are other major carmakers who are proud of the situation. But there would be a potential distortion here. Some carmakers could be put at a disadvantage in relation to others. Some trustworthy manufacturers are trustworthy because of the agreements which have been reached with US and Chinese producers, where they are buying up the emission reductions which they are not capable of meeting themselves through their own sales. So if we're seeing green quota trading, is that really, truly in the spirit of the kind of green transition which we want to see, or would it not be better to use resources in a different way? We're also, I think, losing sight of the broader picture of car manufacturers. If you look at electric vehicles, too, there's extra burden of loss of critical raw materials, extra production costs, buying of batteries from China, the delays in the EU on chips strategy, the subsidies that China and the US give their own car industries. We don't have a proper charging network. If you take all of this together, it's a very difficult position for those producers where now we're saying that companies should be footing the bill for this Now, couldn't we have some kind of mechanism that would not violate the rules of competition, but would allow us not to over penalize a sector which is already facing difficulties? How do you imagine that a banking borrowing mechanism might operate so that those who are lagging behind in terms of achieving the 2025 objectives might be given some time, 2 or 3 years in order to reach the CO2 targets over a slightly longer period, but still respecting the decarbonization targets.”
  Road transport environmental policy
• “I will read a statement on behalf of. The S&D Group welcomes this draft report and supports the ambition to strengthen Europe's research and training capacity in the nuclear field for the period 2020 28 to 2032. At a time of growing, growing geopolitical uncertainty, increasing energy needs, and fierce global technological competition, Europe must invest in knowledge, innovation, skills and strategic capacity. In that respect, this report sends an important signal. We particularly welcome the report's emphasis on stronger synergies with the Horizon Europe and other union programmes, on supporting young researchers, and on preserving and developing nuclear skills and competencies across the Union. These are essential priorities. If Europe wants to maintain scientific excellence or reinforce its industrial base and avoid losing critical expertise. We also see clear added value in supporting research infrastructures. Cross-border cooperation and better coordination between union and national efforts. We also take positive note of the report's recognition that nuclear research and innovation can contribute to Europe's wider objectives of decarbonisation, competitiveness and strategic autonomy. The focus on innovation, including efficient technologies, fuel supply, resilience and the development of new industrial capacities, reflects the reality that Europe must be able to shape technological progress rather than depend on others. The proposed budget increase is also an important political message. If Europe is serious about remaining a global player in nuclear science and technology, then must be ensured that our level of ambition is matched by adequate resources. Investment in research and training is not only about technology, it is also about quality jobs, skills, industrial leadership and Europe's long term capacity to act. For Sadi, this must remain firmly anchored in our core values the highest standards of safety and security, strong democratic oversight and a clear focus on delivering benefits for society. But overall, we see this report as a constructive contribution to building a stronger, more innovative and more resilient European research framework. Thank you.”
  Nuclear energy