The French Presidency of the Council of the EU has presented its programme during the European Parliament plenary session. RECHARGE – the European industry association for advanced rechargeable and lithium batteries – welcomes the Presidency’s programme, establishing that the “Presidency will speed up negotiations on the Batteries Regulation, which responds to major industrial challenges and has a high level of ambition in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of Europeans and the strategic autonomy of the EU”, and would like stress the Presidency’s crucial role in concluding the Council’s approach on the open dossier.
Following the important progress made during the Slovenia Presidency, France has established its steering note, as seen last week. The Presidency, aiming to finalise the Council’s negotiations on the Battery Regulation during its term, identified a number of substantial elements: The debate has not been finalised in particular on hazardous substances (Art. 6), carbon footprint (Art. 7), recycled content (Art. 8), and supply chain due diligence policies (Art. 39).
The French Presidency will now be pivotal in ensuring a robust and facts-backed Council position, which will ultimately ensure that measures deliver on advancing the decarbonisation and energy transition and that the European batteries value chain becomes a competitive global leader, able to set sustainability standards for the rest of the world.