European Union

Across the world, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert a toll on the way we live, it has also reshaped the way journalists work. Covering the pandemic and its aftermath has led to direct exposure to the virus, but...

Written by Marcin Szczepański (1st edition) .

With public financing of enterprises on the rise globally, and substantially increased as a result of the pandemic, subsidisation has become an issue of growing concern in competitive markets. In May 2021 the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on distortive foreign subsidies. It follows a 2020 white paper that identified gaps in the trade laws and put forward ways to close them. The draft regulation aims to tackle those foreign subsidies that have a distortive effect on the single market. It proposes to do so by giving the Commission powers to investigate subsidies granted by non-EU public authorities to companies operating on the internal market. If these are found to be distortive, the Commission will be able to apply redressive measures. The regulation proposes three new tools: two are notification-based, enabling the Commission to: investigate foreign subsidies in companies’ mergers and acquisitions; and investigate the bids in large public procurement procedures, involving third-country government support. The acquirer or bidder will be required to give ex-ante notification of external financial contribution. The third tool is an ex‑officio tool enabling the Commission to take the initiative to investigate other market situations. As co-legislators, Parliament and Council will now begin analysing the proposal.

Versions

Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market Committee responsible: International Trade (INTA) COM(2021) 0223 of 5.5.2021 Rapporteur:

To be appointed

2020/0114(COD) Shadow rapporteurs: To be appointed Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Initial discussions in committee

The third and final event within the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) Technology Foresight Exercise 2021 closed last week. During these events, multiple possible futures have been discussed with a multidisciplinary group of experts. These will now be taken forward to identify new potentially disruptive technologies, weak signals and trends relevant for European defence.

These events have been part of a wider defence technology foresight exercise which was launched by the Agency in January and will run until the end of this year. The three events have been attended by experts from EDA Member States (and the countries associated with the Agency), as well as by several international organizations, in different technological and non-technological domains, civil and military, from different generations and backgrounds, from governmental and international organisations, research centres, academia, and industry. 

In closing the final virtual event, Jean-François Ripoche, EDA Director Research, Technology and Innovation, said: “The Technology Foresight Exercise will provide tangible results to support the EDA R&T Planning process, as the main outcomes will be in a form of foresight report and online products, containing the weak signals and the most interesting technologies towards 2040+ identified. The report will be complemented by the futures narratives, weak signals report, and back-casting conclusions”. 

The outcomes from the exercise will contribute to:  

• provide a high-level, long-term vision on multiple possible futures with defence relevance, with a special focus of the impact of emerging and emerged disruptive technologies;
• take advantage of the synergies between technology foresight and the Capability Development Plan (CDP) Strand B, in order to produce an input for any future updates of the EDA Prioritization tools such as the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA), CDP or Key Strategic Activities (KSAs), as well as the creation of the Strategic Compass;
• contribute broadly to the European Union’s resilience building and strategic autonomy efforts, while also informing future technology foresight workshops, the OSRA process and, in general, all the R&T activities within EDA.

The exercise is innovative as it combines different methodologies and processes, along with best practices and lessons learned from the wider EDA community of foresight practitioners. The exercise looked into technologies, and also on sociology, ethics, economy, medicine, history, international relations, defence capabilities and operational needs, philosophy, biosciences, etc.

Next steps

The report will be complemented by the futures narratives, weak signals report, and back-casting conclusions. These outcomes will be ready in the second semester 2021.

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