Industry Committee (ITRE) MEPs of the European Parliament proposed to reshape the European Competitiveness Fund’s scope, governance and budget, with a focus on industrial and security dimensions.
They propose to increase the overall ECF budget to €264.35 billion in current prices (from €234.3 billion in the Commission proposal), with detailed binding minimum allocations per policy window and sub-sections. MEPs suggest introducing a new €10.11 billion flexibility reserve, to allow the Fund to respond to unforeseen challenges.
Industry Committee MEPs advocate a specific programme for defence research, development and innovation. They suggest to focus it into three distinct instruments: an agile, upstream defence research programme, a blended-finance instrument for defence start-ups and scale-ups developing disruptive technologies, and an instrument to fund collaborative applied research tied to capability priorities.
MEPs propose a clear definition of the notion of “competitiveness,” centred around the ability of European companies to compete successfully in global markets. They also add definitions of the key concepts of strategic dependencies and resilience.
The committee also proposes to replace the Commission’s single “Strategic Stakeholders Board” with several new, independent governance bodies. The text also advocates creating “Horizon Europe Pathway actions,” a dedicated mechanism to translate Horizon Europe research results into market deployment.
MEPs also propose a new article dealing with the ECF InvestEU Instrument, providing support for sustainable construction and clean tech manufacturing for housing, energy-efficient building renovation, renewable and citizen energy communities, and social investments. The maximum guarantee of this instrument should stand at €150 billion (the Commission proposed €70 billion).
