Mario MANTOVANI

Policy topics Mario MANTOVANI is active on

What Mario MANTOVANI has said (35)

• 2026-02-23 “E-000751/2026 Answer given by Mr Šefčovič on behalf of the European Commission The anti-dumping procedure follows the standard time schedule. Since October 2025 imports are registered 1 , and provisional anti-dumping measures, ranging from 57,7% to 90,1% were imposed on 28 March 2026 2 . Definitive measures, if warranted, will be published by 25 September 2026, at the latest. The impact of anti-dumping measures on the downstream industries is analysed in the context of EU interest analysis. However, this requires cooperation of the users of polyamide yarns. Upon initiation, 140 users of polyamide yarns identified in the complaint were invited to cooperate. Only three users and one user’s association, registered themselves as interested parties. None of them filled in the user questionnaire. Only one provided comments concerning the product scope and not on the impact of measures on the downstream industry. Two other users (not registered as interested parties) provided general comments on the possible negative impact of the measures on the downstream industry, but these were not supported by any evidence or data. The trade defence instruments used by the Commission are designed for restoring the level playing field on the EU market when it is disrupted by unfair practices of dumped imports. Following the imposition of provisional measures, the Commission will further assess the effect of the measures on the EU producers and users of polyamide yarns. In case the downstream industry faces pressure from cheap imports, it can also submit a complaint and request an anti-dumping investigation. 1 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1984 of 3 October 2025 making imports of yarns of polyamide originating in the People’s Republic of China subject to registration (OJ L 2025/1984, 6.10.2025: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2025/1984/oj/eng). 2 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/734 of 26 March 2026 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of yarns of polyamide originating in the People’s Republic of China (OJ L 2026/734, 27.03.2026: ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2026/734/oj).”
  EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports · Trade relations with China
• 2025-05-07 “E-001837/2025 Answer given by Ms Albuquerque on behalf of the European Commission With the Omnibus package on sustainability 1 , the Commission proposed to reduce the reporting burden for a significant number of undertakings in the EU. In so far as credit institutions are subject to obligations under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) 2 and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) 3 , they will benefit of such simplification. Under the prudential framework (Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive-CRR/CRD) 4 , credit institutions are subject to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-related obligations in relation to their exposure to climate risk. The European Banking Authority (EBA) is mandated to prepare uniform reporting and disclosure formats specifying how credit institutions need to comply with such prudential obligations. The EBA has already published guidelines on ESG matters 5 , which guide credit institutions towards compliance with prudential requirements. The EBA’s implementation of other related mandates in CRR and CRD is catering for and adjusting to the simplification introduced by the Omnibus package, ensuring appropriate proportionality. The Commission sees therefore no need to amend CRR and CRD at this stage. 1 https://finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/commission-simplifies-rules-sustainability-and-eu-investmentsdelivering-over-eu6-billion_en. 2 https://finance.ec.europa.eu/capital-markets-union-and-financial-markets/company-reporting-andauditing/company-reporting/corporate-sustainability-reporting_en. 3 https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/doing-business-eu/sustainability-due-diligenceresponsible-business/corporate-sustainability-due-diligence_en. 4 https://finance.ec.europa.eu/banking/banking-regulation/prudential-requirements_en. 5 https://www.eba.europa.eu/activities/single-rulebook/regulatory-activities/sustainable-finance/guidelinesmanagement-esg-risks.”
  EU regulation on financial data access · Climate efforts
• 2025-03-10 “E-001031/2025 Answer given by Mr Serafin on behalf of the European Commission The next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will face significant challenges, as outlined in the Commission communication ‘The road to the next multiannual financial framework’ 1 . The next long-term budget will have to be simpler, more focused and responsive, reflecting European strategic priorities. The Political Guidelines of the President of the Commission 2 and the above-mentioned communication have set out the objective of a strengthened cohesion and growth policy with regions at the centre of the next MFF. Future cohesion policy will be designed and implemented in partnership with national, regional and local authorities. Building on the Vision for Agriculture and Food 3 , the future Common Agricultural Policy 4 , must provide targeted support to farmers who need it most, promote positive environmental and social outcomes through rewards and incentives for ecosystem services and support the right enabling conditions for thriving rural areas. It must become simpler, targeted and find the right balance between incentives, investment and regulation, and ensure that farmers have a fair and sufficient income. At the same time, more frequent and dramatic climate-related disasters are having a heavy social and economic toll, with increasing costs. Further work on climate and water resilience is necessary, as highlighted by the European Court of Auditors in its recommendations for future-proofing EU funding for climate adaptation 5 . 1 https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/6d47acb4-9206-4d0f-8f9b3b10cad7b1ed_en?filename=Communication%20on%20the%20road%20to%20the%20next%20MFF_en.pdf 2 https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/e6cd4328-673c-4e7a-8683f63ffb2cf648_en?filename=Political%20Guidelines%202024-2029_EN.pdf 3 https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-food/vision-agriculture-and-food_en 4 https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/cap-overview/cap-2023-27_en 5 https://www.eca.europa.eu/ECAPublications/SR-2024-15/SR-2024-15_EN.pdf?trk=public_post_comment-text”
  Cohesion and rural funding · Agricultural funding · Size of EU budget
• 2024-11-27 “E-002670/2024 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on behalf of the European Commission The Commission oversees several actions to make the EU a leading player in artificial intelligence (AI) and increase competitiveness. Support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is delivered via two initiatives of the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) 1 : European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) 2 and Testing Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) 3 . Over 150 EDIHs have delivered over 20.000 services to SMEs to support their digitalisation and use of AI. TEFs in four sectors (healthcare, manufacturing, smart cities and agri-food) help SMEs test AI. The Commission has financed the AI on Demand Platform 4 to help SMEs access AI tools and datasets. In addition, at the Action Summit in Paris, the Commission launched InvestAI, an initiative to mobilise EUR 200 billion for AI investment 5 including a new European fund of EUR 20 billion for AI gigafactories needed to allow open, collaborative development of AI models and to make Europe an AI continent. The Chips Act 6 aims to address semiconductor shortages and strengthen Europe’s technological leadership. It mobilises over EUR 43 billion of investments for manufacturing facilities to ensure resilience of the Union’s semiconductor sector. Regarding company law, the Commission is preparing a proposal for a 28 th regime which will simplifies applicable rules. An EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy will also address obstacles preventing new companies from emerging and scaling. From 2021 to 2027 7 , over EUR 4 billion of EU funding is available for AI research and innovation activities under Horizon Europe 8 and DEP 9 . A Commission recommendation 10 encourages businesses to make use of data-analysis, automated recognition and machine learning to detect counterfeits online. 1 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/digital-programme 2 https://european-digital-innovation-hubs.ec.europa.eu/edih-catalogue 3 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/testing-and-experimentation-facilities 4 https://www.ai4europe.eu 5 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_467 6 Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/694 (Chips Act) (OJ L 229, 18.9.2023, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1781/oj). 7 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/european-ai-research 8 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-opencalls/horizon-europe_en 9 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/activities/digital-programme 10 Commission Recommendation on measures to combat counterfeiting and enhance the enforcement of intellectual property rights: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/publications/commissionrecommendation-measures-combat-counterfeiting-and-enhance-enforcement-intellectual_en”
  EU industrial funding · Artificial Intelligence
• 2024-11-13 “E-002513/2024 Answer given by Executive Vice-President Séjourné On behalf of the European Commission The Commission acknowledges the importance of the textile sector, including the fashion industry, for the European economy, culture and creativity. At the same time textile production and consumption have major effects on the environment and on climate change, as underlined in the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles 1 and the European Environment Agency report 2 . The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles proposed an agenda to support the sector’s shift towards the green transition. Reducing environmental and climate impacts from textiles is essential to achieve a sustainable transition and to meet the climate targets set under the EU ‘Fit for 55' legislative package. The Commission recognises the importance of mobilising investments and supporting operators in adopting circular business models and processes. In this respect, the Commission has put forward a proposal for a co-programmed European Partnership ‘Textiles of the Future’ 3 under Horizon Europe 4 under the second Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027 5 . In the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and NextGenerationEU, EUR 658 billion is allocated to spending for climate-relevant objectives. In most of the EU funding programmes (including Recovery and Resilience Facility 6 , the InvestEU programme 7 , Cohesion Funds 8 , or Horizon Europe 9 ) investments on decarbonisation are eligible for all sectors including fashion. In addition, textile companies, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises 10 , can be supported through the Enterprise Europe Network 11 , the Eurocluster initiative 12 , the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform 13 , and through the Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem 14 . 1 COM(2022) 141 final, https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/textiles-strategy_en 2 EEA (2022), https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/textiles-and-the-environment-the 3 Innovative actions such as small scale demonstration, piloting of new technologies and innovative business models for competitive manufacturing of sustainable textile products may be funded under the partnership. 4 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-opencalls/horizon-europe_en 5 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-opencalls/horizon-europe/strategic-plan_en 6 https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en 7 https://investeu.europa.eu/investeu-programme_en 8 https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funding/cohesion-fund_en 9 https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-opencalls/horizon-europe_en 10 Small and medium-sized enterprises represent more than 99% of the companies active in the EU textile sector (Eurostat). 11 https://een.ec.europa.eu/ 12 https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/euroclusters 13 https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en 14 https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/textiles-ecosystem/textiles-transition-pathway_en”
  Energy (green transition)
• 2024-09-13 “E-001711/2024 Answer given by High Representative/Vice-President Borrell i Fontelles on behalf of the European Commission The recent appalling so-called law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of the Taliban confirms and extends severe restrictions on the life of Afghans, and in particular women and girls. The EU has clearly condemned the so-called law 1 , and continues to use all its tools to support Afghan women and girls, starting with its assistance, delivered under a ‘by women for women’ approach – ensuring women play a meaningful role in all aspects of aid interventions 2 . The EU is also engaged with Afghanistan civil society and – through principled engagement based on the five benchmarks set by the Council 3 – with Taliban representatives. The EU seizes every opportunity to both concretely support and advocate for the fundamental rights of Afghan women and girls. The EU’s basic needs and livelihoods’ assistance resumed during the last trimester of 2023 after reinforced monitoring systems demonstrated that delivering assistance in a principled manner was feasible. In parallel, the EU and the entire international community have already taken strong political action against the Taliban, uniting in refusing to officially recognise the Taliban regime and in agreeing that such recognition (as stated in the United Nations’ independent assessment 4 of which the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2721 5 took positive note), can only happen once the Taliban fully respect international obligations, including on human rights. The EU is fully engaged in the ongoing United Nations-led process, which aims to reach such objective. The EU has also adopted restrictive measures 6 against Taliban senior representatives under the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions regime. 1 On 26 August 2024, the High-Representative/Vice-President issued a statement on behalf of the EU to strongly condemn the law, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/08/26/afghanistan-statementof-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-latest-restrictions-imposed-by-the-taliban-on-thepeople/?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=AUTOMATED%20-%20Alert%20%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_id=320 2 For further information on EU assistance see Directorate General for International Partnerships, website: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/countries/afghanistan_en; and Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, website: https://civil-protection-humanitarianaid.ec.europa.eu/where/asia-and-pacific/afghanistan_en 3 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11713-2021-REV-2/en/pdf 4 https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/2023_11_sg_special_assessment_report.pdf 5 http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/2721 6 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2023:069I:FULL; https://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2023:183I:FULL”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · Conditions to access EU humanitarian aid · EU foreign policy approach
• 2024-08-29 “E-001566/2024 Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission Health and social care workforce shortages are an important challenge. According to Article 168(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 1 , Member States are responsible for the management of health services, which includes ensuring sufficient availability of health workforce. As per Article 153 (4), the design and management of social protection systems, including long-term care (LTC), remain fundamentally a responsibility of Member States. The action plan to tackle labour and skills shortages 2 calls for actions at all levels. The Commission supports Member States through a Joint Action on health workforce planning 3 , actions on skills development: BeWell 4 and training projects 5 ; and an action addressing shortages of nurses 6 . The Cohesion Policy Funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility can support complementary, country-specific actions. The Commission’s Healthcare Systems Performance Assessment Expert Group will work with Member States on staffing level solutions in healthcare 7 . To help Member States address labour shortages in LTC, the Commission, under the European Care Strategy, proposed a Council Recommendation on access to affordable highquality LTC 8 , set up a European social dialogue committee for social services, and supported a skills partnership in LTC. The Commission supports Member States in attracting talent from outside the EU 9 . Talent Partnerships with five countries provide mutually beneficial frameworks to facilitate labour mobility, combined with investment in the educational and training systems to transform the risk of brain drain into brain gain. Sectors are selected jointly by participating Member States and non-EU countries and can include health and LTC. 1 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:12012E/TXT&from=en 2 Commission sets out actions to tackle labour and skills shortages https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&furtherNews=yes&newsId=10790 3 EU4Health Programme: https://www.agenas.gov.it/ricerca-e-sviluppo/ricerca-internazionale/personalesanitario-ri/heroes-health-workforce-to-meet-health-challenges 4 Erasmus+ programme: https://bewell-project.eu/ 5 EU4Health programme: https://health.ec.europa.eu/publications/2022-eu4health-work-programme_en; AMR EDUCare https://www.amreducare.eu/; e-Hospital4Future https://eh4future.eu/; GESEA Educational Programme https://gesea.eu/; DigiCanTrain https://digicantrain.turkuamk.fi/contact-us/; DDS-MAP https://ddsmap.easpd.eu/; TRANSiTION https://ehma.org/projects/transition/; EHMA https://hpass.healthworkforce.eu/ 6 EU4Health programme: https://health.ec.europa.eu/publications/2024-eu4health-work-programme_en 7 https://health.ec.europa.eu/health-systems-performanceassessment_en#:~:text=The%20Expert%20Group%20supports%20tailored%20activities%20in%20countries 8 COM(2022)441 final. 9 European Commission adopts Skills and Talent Mobility Package: https://migrantintegration.ec.europa.eu/news/european-commission-adopts-skills-and-talent-mobility-package_en”
  EU policy on brain drain · EU competences on social policies · EU competences on health
• “Mr. president. Commissioner. Colleagues. There's nothing more dangerous than someone who believes that there's only one truth. Nobel Literature Prize winner said this. Of course, we need to ensure that we have an open and accessible social media, which are reliable. But we've seen public funding from the commission, which has shaped the debate on Green Deal, which has ruined our industry. What about NGOs and media promoting the Green Deal or the specific interests of certain political groups getting public EU money? That was political disinformation paid for by citizens. So if you talk about transparency on algorithms, you have to do it across the board. You can't only do it when it's things that you don't like. That doesn't help democracy that's simply imposing your will through other means. Transparency should be universal.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. Colleagues. Registering the interests of foreign states in Europe. Well, Commissioner, I'm in favour of anything which strengthens our security and sovereignty. But this proposal, I feel, doesn't go far enough. Do you really think that malign interference organised by hostile services will register with us? I think we're mixing up a security and intelligence issue with one of bureaucratic compliance undermining civil and economic liberties in so doing. In fact, there'll be exemptions for those companies, those bodies which maybe don't directly come from a foreign country, but they are subservient to foreign interests, hostile to Europe. Hidden funds Sharia linked questions. The Muslim brothers, Hamas those opaque bodies which support trafficking in human beings and are conducting hybrid warfare against Europe. Commissioner, this proposal is it going to protect us against this type of danger as well, or will it simply be bureaucracy? Thank you.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Voss. I think this was an excellent summary of the work which has been done in the debate so far. I believe that what you have done does correspond to the main need we have here. We want to support innovation. We don't want to stifle it, but we also want to ensure that content creators are not ending up. Paying for this. We're seeing individual national rulings are filling the breach. Where coordinated EU wide legislation should lie. So we need to look at fair remuneration for creative content people. We also need to look at EU IPO's role here. It's expensive to have a blockchain system trace and protection for individual content, but it might end up being a more effective technique.”
  Senders-pay
• “Madam president, Commissioner, president of the Lombardy Regional Council. Strengthening democracy, defending it from interference is not just a need. It's a duty to future generations. However, it won't be cyber security or the cancellation of elections that will make the difference. On the contrary, these measures will be experienced as authoritarian against authoritarianism. There's only one shield which is strengthening European democracy from the inside, institutional reforms, which brings it closer to European citizens and that liberate it from tyranny and that affirm Western values and the religious and cultural roots of this continent. And a single voice in foreign policy. The European Parliament is one of the only parliaments that doesn't have executive initiative. We need to allow citizens to feel part of Europe, not just protected by an algorithm, but by the belonging, the feeling of belonging of the entire population. Long live Europe!”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. Chairman. Well, I'd like to say good morning to the Minister. We were interested to hear the 12 proposals that were presented. Protecting adults, competitiveness, insolvency, role of civil society, security, corruption, victims rights, Russia, etc.. But, uh, you only have 80 days left, Minister. Now, I'm going to ask you a question on competitiveness. Omnibus was a proposal we can share. It was much appreciated. And our committee will be dealing with it during the coming weeks. But, uh, when it comes to the announced simplification, does the presidency, is the presidency going to come up with further proposals, or are you going to be trying to do away with internal barriers. The green proposals have undermined European competitiveness. So what about those? Are there other initiatives coming, or do we have to wait for 2029 now? The previous commission came up with 13,000 measures during its term of office. And I think if we keep blocking up Europe, we'll certainly have difficulties. Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. Colleagues. The Commission Working Programme for 2025 introduces a number of significant changes of policy vis a vis the past, and indeed it has taken on board many of Fratelli d'Italia policies. Simplification. Education. Cutting bureaucracy and other policies which we have advocated for a long time. This is an improvement on the 13 000 plus policies adoption in the past. Yet, Commissioner, this Parliament since 2024 has only adopted a very few number of pieces of legislation, and much of the legislation that is proposed in 2024 is actually not. It's not legislation. It's non-legislative proposals. Trump has adopted hundreds of of executive orders. Why haven't you done something like that? Something akin to his approach or Malay would be much better to solution to standing up towards Chinese competition and to dealing with things like illegal migration.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you chairman. Good afternoon. Welcome, all. It's a very sensitive issue for all Member states, this court report. And what's rather surprising nonetheless, that on perusing the report, one of the points, inter alia, is that a member state, whoever may be in power at the time, there are some member states who prefer to pay fines for infringements rather than changing the way they do things and actually following the EU's rules. Which makes me think this is rather more of a political issue than about how people respond to inflationary cycles and so on. And I think there's something that one could add to this. Is there a direct relationship between certain rules and the percentage of non-compliance by member states? For example? The bulk directive is that one that has had a lot less compliance than others. Look at other technically complex ones, green ones in the Green Deal, for instance. How would they compare? Should a member state persistently fail to apply EU rules and continue paying fines rather than follow the rules. Might the problem not be with the rules? Might it not be over technical? Might there not be something wrong with the legislation itself? Perhaps the legislation is not taking sufficient account of the distinctive characteristics of different member states and European territories. You can't always do one size fits all. And what about enlargement? As the EU gains new member states. And we have an increasingly complex and sometimes ideological legislation. Are we not going to end up in an implementation crisis, a compliance crisis? Would it not be more sensible and indeed more democratic to have exemption possibilities or ways of adapting rules, which will have a particular impact on some territories. Applying them differently.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “(17:19:54 – 17:20:36): Chairman, just very briefly. We know that if there is no shared legal framework, children who are kidnapped across borders end up in a dangerous legal limbo. And the good thing about this Hague convention from 1980 is that it ensures rapid procedures, and I think that is the best way to provide psychological protection to young people. I mean, every day that something like this is delayed is another day of trauma for the child in question. So I, support mister Kuchuk's proposal not to proceed to amendments.”
  Jurisdiction conflicts between EU and national courts
• “Thank you. Madam president, Commissioner, Commissioner. Colleagues. Rapporteur. The 28th regime will create a single. Optional European system. Alternative to the national ones. Respecting the prerogatives of Member States. Now for a start up moving from Lombardy to Europe. It's not an opportunity. It's a bureaucratic jungle that takes us, that costs us 300 million every year in lost investment. Now, I'm a shadow rapporteur for this proposal, through which commissioner, the Parliament is raising some very important demands. Zero bureaucracy, digitalised registration in 48 hours through a single portal and put an end to obsolete costs and the lack of legal reserves. And I'd like to thank everyone for having shared these views and also legal certainty in the digital sphere as well, and the possibility of attracting investment. Now, uh, one point we fought for was that of competitive taxation, uh, bearing in mind different, uh, International standards, stock options, etc. it's a good compromise, but we've been contacted. Contacted by many start ups in the course of the debate and they're calling for more. They want regulation and uniformity so that they can expand without having fragmented costs. And we have to go beyond reforming company law. That won't be enough in itself. We need more single market and we need a one figure taxation. That's what we need for them. Thank you.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “President. Thank you very much, chairman. Welcome to you, ministers. We are very pleasantly surprised to see you here in the committee at such an early stage in the presidency. And thank you for doing us this courtesy. Now, Mr. Humble God, Minister of Justice, we welcome what the Danish President is proposing to do in the fight against illegal immigration and safeguarding our borders, particularly our external borders, and also the need to deal with those who are not entitled to request asylum. Now, what advances are you expecting over the next six months, particularly in the light of recent events, for example, in Libya, for example. Which is using migration as Is a hybrid weapon against Italy and against the European Union. Now, I have read your proposals very carefully when it comes to competitiveness and companies, but I have to say that all of this just makes sense. Really. It's a common sense. But in your report, you also make reference to small or medium sized enterprises, which of course form the backbone of Europe's economy. Hence my first question. What initiatives is the Danish presidency planning on that front and then on the 28th regime? Mr. Rasi, of course, is our rapporteur. Do you think that it will be possible to work on taxation there as well, given that you were also the Minister for Fiscal Matters. Would you look at levies on foreign capital?”
  Asylum & border control
• “(16:49:44 – 16:52:06): Thank you, chairman, and thank you, mister Voss. I think that in my amendments, I've tabled some proposals that are worth looking at whether the instrument is obligatory or not, first and foremost. We know that the commission didn't want the wallet to be obligatory for businesses, but that wasn't clear from the proposal. I think it is important to make that clear. I also think it's important that an instrument which aims to simplify, increase efficiency, and produce savings should be free for micro businesses, those who have less than 10 employees, at least so that they can use its basic functions free of charge, and they also need free of charge technical assistance, at least during the launch phase. That would be important for small businesses, I think. Then on the functionalities of the wallet, I suggested extending them. It shouldn't just be a tool for digital identification or certification. It should become a single access point for businesses' participation in tenders, applications for European tenders, European funding, etcetera. I think there should be a single interoperable window that's simple, direct, and clear. I think that would really show that Europe has changed and businesses will be able to see that. That would really help European industrial policy, I think. Let me conclude by talking about the implementation of this proposal. Delegated and implementing acts take too long, I think. They often don't enable businesses and administrations to be in a position where they can use these tools as they come out. I think, in order to ensure legal certainty, it'd be important to ensure that the regulation came into force after the commission had adopted all the necessary implementing and delegated acts because otherwise, member states wouldn't be ready. Thank you very much, and thank you again, mister Voss.”
  Electronic identity
• “Yes, thank you Mr. President, but I believe it is important to support innovation without stifling it and above all ensuring that this does not happen to the detriment of content creators to whom we must ensure due protection. There are areas that should be improved. I am referring to the need for tools to identify content generated by artificial intelligence. The development of mechanisms. For the exercise of the lockout, the strengthening of transparency obligations for suppliers of generative artificial intelligence systems regarding the composition and origin of training data, facilitating the verification of compliance with copyright and the promotion of innovative licenses and team remuneration models for rights holders. However, there is a particularly important point. That is, whether or not to grant protection to original content generated exclusively by artificial intelligence without any significant human contribution and in the largest digital market in the world, the United States and the European elections, only artificial intelligence content does not receive copyright protection and I would like to quote an expression of Pope Francis here, I believe that artificial intelligence does not have its own authority in the creative and original sense of the term, its creativity is derived based on models and data provided by man, authentic creation, ethical discernment and the ability to give a profound meaning remain human prerogatives, this is what Pope Francis said. On this issue, I wonder in a world in which the artificial intelligence of its developers became the sole holders of protection rights, it would be a world in which human work and activity would run increasing risks, I think of the audio-visual industry, listen to Claudio, visual as we have heard on all but also the Pharmaceuticals, the media of many other sectors. So I believe that what he thinks of artificial intelligence should remain a tool in the hands of man and not have autonomous protection rights.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “Thank you very much. I don't see any other chairs or rapporteurs for opinion from the other committees, from AFET, from ECON, nor from EMPL or from ENVI. So in that case, we will give it to any interested colleagues who would like to speak. Mrs. Niebler would like to speak.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “President. Commissioner. Colleagues, we've been talking about bureaucracy in the energy sector. Do you know how long it takes to get a renewables plant up and running in Europe? 11 years for wind energy and 3 to 4 for solar. Five different permitting processes environmental impact assessment. Habitat. Directive. Impact assessment. Birdlife directive assessment and the effects on land use. There's a whole set of requirements for each of these possibility of appeal, etc. once you go into the labyrinth, you've no idea when or if you're going to come out the other end. The renewables Directive is supposed to be speeding things up, but it actually leaves the previous directives in place and makes everything more complex. What Giorgia Meloni is proposing, what European leaders have been proposing is a maximum period and we should get rid of it, everything which is superfluous. And if an administration does not respond in due time, then you can go ahead. That's the way the Americans do it. You You go ahead with the law. Unless there's a clear reason why you shouldn't. And in that way, you don't get bogged down in these procedures.”
  EU policy on permitting for renewable energy projects
• “Gracias, president. Commissioner. Good morning. The European company is expecting a lot from the simplification reform. Often in the media there is a worrying distinction between simplification and quasi-dimensional deregulation. The expectations, the reduction of the for the company was enunciated in 23 minutes to date Tuesday the 20th seems happy. We plan to do Sanremo and so on now I am convinced that Draghi once again a few days for astigmatism. Stigmatized to the limits of the vision of which is not able to reform. The limits commissioner can be said if he knows how much in economic terms of saving value added to competitiveness. The reform and the simplification of which Palermo. My Timor like Montana. Patricia. Mickey Mouse and the European Union continued to be universally defined as a monument to bureaucracy. Thank you. ** Ilhan KYUCHYUK @Chair: Grazie. Dear Mario, on behalf of the Renew Europe group. Pascal, please. Pascal.”
  Conditions to access EU budget
• “I'll speak Italian, I listened with interest to the presentation and the ideas of the rapporteur. I must agree that it's a major challenge, this 28th regime. There are some important facts in Europe, more start-ups are formed than in the US. 23,000 new active enterprises, and of those, one out of two has to look for funding abroad. That is not in Europe, but in the US, in 2024, world private investment in innovative sectors worth $370 billion, about a little over 10% of that was invested in Europe. Now, we all know how important systems are, and we have to modify these systems if we are to get a legislative initiative that is effective. We need governance rules, quick company start-up procedures, low capital requirements, one euro perhaps, flexible tax systems, as Member Rosman says, and new tax rules which would involve the whole Council, different classes of shares and different voting rights within companies, which would allow flexibility to investors' incentive plans, shareholder incentive plans, and rules which enable employees to be granted equity arbitration to resolve disputes. And not only these, but there are many reforms that will be needed to back up any rules on the 28th regime, and which would allow us to complete a true capital market and a single European market. And I hope that we will see further simplification, which will extend the omnibus parameters for Omnibus 1 for SMEs and starts up in also in the area of supervision and banking prudential rules, which are currently excluded. Now, in the past, we worked on the harmonization of the rules for European companies, but what came out of that is an example which I think we should not be following. I'm talking about the Societas Europea of 2004, a very complex set of rules, which didn't work. There was no fiscal harmonization, and the rules were more complex than even a national level, and obviously that gives rise to all sorts of problems. Now, if the results of your and our work, or the compromise that will ensue, will not reflect a clear political and innovative political view, and if we don't have a modern and effective piece of legislation, then we won't have achieved anything, as was the case in 2004. But I hope that with your confidence and the commitment of everybody, we can achieve a result that would be positive for the European economy. Thank you.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “Thank you very much. Chairman, Commissioner in Italy, my country, almost 50% of the national GDP is linked to intellectual property. 31.5% of employees are employed as a result of that. But it seems like the European bureaucracy is simply going beyond the reasonable. You have promised to provide us with a patent package, but the commission has now decided to withdraw the standard essential patents file. Member states have had a chance to express a number of concerns. There would be an overlap of roles and competences between the European Patents Office, the European Intellectual Property Office and the European Unitary Patents Court. So there are a number of different problems that were raised. Commissioner, we need more politics and less bureaucracy. What do you plan to do on the standard essential patents? Maybe a single omnibus package is not enough to relaunch Europe's competitiveness.”
  Intellectual property rights (IPR)
• “Thank you. Chair. I'm grateful to rapporteur, Mr. Raposo for all of the hard work. The idea of creating some new kind of status. It could indeed be helpful to support innovation. I agree with a lot of these aims. Simplification, making it easier and quicker to set up a company such as Capital €1. Reducing administrative burdens and costs. I agree with all of that, but having a 28 foot system which Only deals with companies without looking at a harmonised tax system which would encourage. New platforms genuinely contributing to growth. I think it's a missed opportunity because international investors. Will stick with the US, stick with Delaware and not choose Europe. I am aware of your own views on this, Mr. Repartee. I know that we require unanimity of the 27 in order to do anything similar, but a European tax on over €50 million turnover companies and excise duty on cigarettes and so on have been discussed recently. They require a similar support. So if there is some kind of debate on taxes on the table, I think this would be. Appropriate here. When we're talking about hitting people harder, it seems that there's more of a consensus. But when we're talking about making it easier for people and encouraging competitiveness, it appears that we can't put the issue on the table. I think we should be able to do that. I know there are technical dimensions on which we'll be holding shadow meetings and discussions, and I'll be able to share my position in detail with you there. Thank you.”
  EU competences on taxation
• “Thank you. President. Commissioner. Minister. Mr. colleagues in 2024, in private investments in innovation were $370 billion. In 2033, they will be 1.5 trillion. The majority of this capital was invested in the US and Asia and not in Europe. Too much red tape, too many taxes, too many costs, and really a no policy in the EU for innovation. We need to make Europe a global hub in investment investment with new rules that can attract capital like the Delaware corporation in the US. So easier tax and competitive rules, procedures for incorporating businesses. Low social capital. European Funds for startups and universities, as well as for training and human resources to really relaunch Europe. That means we're going to need a farsighted policy for Europe and not a more bureaucracy. Thank you.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “President. Thank you. This omnibus proposal is positive, but with this many amendments. Well, that's not enough. It's not good enough to protect our companies, to protect our trade. And it's not good enough to be able to relaunch SMEs into a framework where there are other priorities and to be able to set up standards for declarations supervision, and it's also not good enough to be able to uphold the, uh, aim that we've had, which is of eliminating obstacles, internal barriers. I've presented some good amendments for companies. But I feel that if there is a double reporting obligation, then it is absolutely urgent for us to reduce the administrative burden upon those active in the sector in order to ensure that we can be competitive here. There's an urgent need for us to have a break with the past and have new policies, not the fragmented approach we've had previously give.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “(17:08:09 – 17:10:01): very briefly, chairman. Well, I don't think there's anyone who wants to call the goals of environmental protection into question. I mean, we're we're all aware that there are European directives in place. They're rigorous, and they also use criminal law to protect the environment. The content has taken up that content, boosting it and extending it to a wider range of contracting states. Businesses are particularly to blame if they violate some of these standards, not only for intentional acts, but also if they don't carry out the appropriate checks and controls. And that means that they're going to have to maintain complex and very expensive internal control mechanisms. With the with Omnibus 1, we all worked to lighten the administrative load in terms of sustainability, which was actually becoming unsustainable for businesses. But here, businesses are going to be subject to, parallel lines of sanctions, so potentially civil, criminal, and administrative. And, potentially, they could face unlimited costs. I mean, protecting the environment obviously has to be effective, but it has to be financially sustainable as well because otherwise, it doesn't it's the environment isn't protected at all. And if I may, the chairman, the deadline for amendments has been established as the day after tomorrow, and we just got the information when we were in Strasbourg. Now we don't work for a multinational. There aren't that many of us, so it'd be great to perhaps have a little bit more time. Thank you very much.”
  Environmental crimes and justice
• “Thank you. Madam president, Commissioner, colleagues, I would say that the 2030 consumer agenda is something to be welcomed, but it is trying to look at dealing with dangerous projects. The General Product Safety Regulation hasn't worked, and this strategic failure has been seen through the speed with which these products have been sold. We have these doc shop, which has got millions of users across Europe. Timo has 115 million. Shane has 145 million. And these have become critical commercial structures. And they're getting support from the Chinese government. And they represent an unacceptable share of products that are counterfeit and dangerous. And they're exposing us to political vulnerability. And this agenda is not, I believe, going to be able to remedy that. It's not just a bureaucratic problem. It's time to take direct, immediate measures, even including sanctions against the governments of those countries, and ask them to affect our laws, which protect the consumers and which respect IP. Thank you.”
  Trade relations with China
• “(17:24:24 – 17:27:08): Thank you Chairman, and I'd like to echo the thanks we've heard for your frequent presence here for these discussions. But I do want to bring up a specific issue which relates to SMEs. Simplifications for SMEs is one of the key priorities of this parliamentary term because we're constantly talking about European competitiveness. Now I agree with omnibus four and the idea of extending simplification measures to midsized companies as well. Supporting the growth of businesses without penalizing them when they reach a certain size is the right way to go, I think, so this is positive. But I do want to point out one thing which risks being left behind, and that is micro businesses. So businesses with fewer than ten employees and less than two million in turnover. I mean, these are the backbone of the EU economy. These are people who own small shops, they have startups, they have a small warehouse, etcetera, etcetera. And we have some proposals on AI, the digital network act, and the next omnibus, but the tendency is to treat SMEs as a homogenous group. So there are benefits, but it doesn't take account of the difference between a business that has seven hundred and fifty employees and one hundred and fifty million turnover and a family business with just three employees. I mean, their administrative capacity is very different. I think this is something that should be looked at in a cross-cutting manner. I mean, this is something that's important to us and all political groups and also the Commission. So in my amendments, I systematically propose exemptions for micro businesses because they have different requirements, and so they should therefore have different rules that apply to them. So to conclude, could you come up with appropriate impact assessments and measures for micro businesses? Could you would you commit to doing that, to assessing the impact on them? This think small first principle means doing exactly that, I think. Thank you very much.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Yes. Thank you. Chairman, very briefly, a question on the omnibus will. We worked to ensure that there were exemptions and limitations for SMEs, but these SMEs would nevertheless continue to be obliged under the SA and CR to provide information when they turn to banking institutions to get a loan. So I think that needs to be simplified as well, because that's a particularly sensitive area. Otherwise, SMEs are going to have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy every time they have to ask for a banking licence. That's my first question. Now, secondly, the 28th regime, the challenge is to attract Risk capital. And I wanted to ask you, Commissioner, on the 28th regime proposal that's coming out in March, is it going to limit itself to company law, or is it going to look at tax matters as well? Because, uh, I think that if we could be a bit braver and go for taxation and have that in the 28th regime like Delaware was, then, I think we'd be more effective and avoid task or dumping among member states.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “President. Commissioner. Colleagues. On Digital affairs, Europe has created a regulatory labyrinth for companies. We've adopted the rules before adopting the instruments to apply them. The Artificial Intelligence Acts has 37 standards for harmonization. Only 15 have actually been published so far. Today, if a company is subject to a cyber attack, they have to make three different notifications with three different time frames to three different authorities. And this for just one incident. And whilst Europe is a regulating and making the digital sector more complicated, the US and China have forged ahead. The simplification Vacation package. Yes, that's good, but this should be the starting point, not the finish line. What we need to do is we need to beef it up with targeted measures for SMEs and start ups with regulatory sandboxes, standards, incentives and digital vouchers. And this is all this is not enough, Commissioner, because if you have the models and the and the chips, then you have all the cards. And if you just come up with, with, with standards, then it's everybody else that has the power.”
  EU digital & tech sovereignty
• “(16:41:59 – 16:43:41): Yes. Thank you, Chair. I would also like to thank you for this presentation. I have to say that EFRAC has done excellent work on voluntary standards for reporting, especially for small and medium enterprises. This is the result of in-depth consultation of the stakeholders. Now we also have to say that the consultation is ending now and we see that there are differences if we look at the standards that EFRAC has given, the ones that they provided to the commission. Now progress is important, but efficient standards on non financial reporting depends on legal certainty. Companies must have a stable framework in order to plan their investments, especially for compliance and changing standards doesn't help. So what has EFRAC planned? What are they going to do in a situation such as this? And then I would like to ask if they think that the mapping of initiatives and of platforms besides Spain Forum exchange, do they think it can be used to spread a single standard against the situation in which disclosure is imposed with different standards for its small suppliers? Thank you. This is my other question.”
  Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights)
• “See? Thank you, chairman. And I'd like to echo the thanks we've heard for your frequent presence here for these discussions. But I do want to bring up a specific issue which relates to SMEs. Simplifications for SMEs is one of the key priorities of this parliamentary term, because we're constantly talking about European competitiveness. Now, I agree with omnibus four and the idea of extending simplification measures to midsize companies as well, supporting the growth of businesses without penalizing them when they reach a certain size, is the right way to go, I think. So this is positive, but I do want to point out one thing which risks being left behind, and that is micro businesses. So businesses with fewer than ten Employees and less than 2 million in terms of turnover. I mean, these are the backbone of the EU economy. These are people who own small shops, they have startups, they have a small warehouse, etc., etc.. And we have some proposals on AI, the Digital Network Act and the next omnibus. But the tendency is to treat SMEs as a homogenous group. So there are benefits, but it doesn't take account of the difference between a business that has 750 employees and 150 million turnover, and a family business with just three employees. I mean, their administrative capacity is very different. I think this is something that should be looked at in a cross-cutting manner. I mean, this is something that's important to us and all political groups and also the commission. So in my amendments, I systematically propose exemptions for microbusinesses because they have different requirements. And so they should therefore have different rules that apply to them. So to conclude. Could you come up with appropriate impact assessments and measures for micro businesses? Would you commit to doing that to assessing the impact on them? This think small first principle means doing exactly that. I think thank you very much.”
  Overall simplification of regulation in the EU
• “Thank you, chairman, and I'd like to thank our speakers for their very useful interventions. This issue. Is not that different to the 28th regime that we've dealt with. Now, the first thing I'd say is that, uh, the history of company law at the European level is very fragmented. I mean, we had a failure when it came to trying to legislate for big, large businesses. The EBA, this 28th regime for non for profit organisations, is a set of rules that aims to get over the fragmentation in the market, but they do it using separate and often non-consistent instruments and it's this Fragmented approach, which is a problem because it doesn't actually simplify anything. It actually increases the complexity of our legal situation in Europe. I think, uh, a long term focus should be on trying to create a single legal framework that's modular in nature, uh, European commercial Code that will end up helping to make the European Union more competitive and really move towards this single market that all economic operators, whether for profit or not, for profit, require. My final comment relates to. The fact that a directive requires a qualified majority rather than unanimity in Council. However, in spite of that, a year and a half after the Parliament has adopted its position, disposition. Nothing is moving in Council. And perhaps that shows that when you go into the content, legal bases and voting majorities are a fake problem. And perhaps the EU needs to find new rules for cooperation. And perhaps the entire EU really needs a renewal of some sort. Thank you.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation