Commission President: EU Sovereignty Fund will be proposed in summer

(EurActiv, 14 Dec 2022) Ahead of Thursday’s (15 December) meeting of EU leaders, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that a proposal for a European Sovereignty Fund to support European industry’s green and digital transition would be presented next summer.

“We need to galvanise our strong European industrial power in the global fight against climate change. And that calls for common European industrial policy with common European funding,” von der Leyen said in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday morning.

No details were given on where the “European funding” should come from. While her Commission colleague Thierry Breton has publicly argued for a large fund financed by common European debt, some member states, such as Germany and the Netherlands, argue that there is still a lot of unused money in the EU’s pandemic recovery fund.

European IRA’

“I think the upcoming midterm review of the MFF [multi-annual financial framework, the EU’s long-term budget] around summer will be a good opportunity to put forward our proposal in more detail,” she said.

However, Greens MEP Rasmus Andresen was critical. “A solution in the MFF comes too late and risks being too small,” he said, arguing that the EU budget did not have the muscle to carry an ambitious European Sovereignty Fund (ESF).

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EurActiv, 14 Dec 2022: Commission President: EU Sovereignty Fund will be proposed in summer