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New Chemical Package
EU Parliament and Council decide to extends 90 % gas-storage rule to 2027 while granting countries new leeway to navigate volatile markets.
New Chemical Package
The European Parliament has ratified a compromise with the Council that prolongs the EU’s emergency gas-storage regime until the end of 2027 while softening its most rigid elements. Whereas the Commission had merely proposed shifting the sunset date of the existing 90 % filling obligation, lawmakers added a wider “landing zone” for the target (any time between 1 October and 1 December) and a tiered system of derogations that can lower the benchmark by up to 10 percentage points—plus a further 5 points for large producers or slow-injecting sites, and another 5 points via delegated act in a crisis. Trajectories remain but become indicative, reporting now includes the share of Russian gas in storage, and countries without facilities still have to book 15 % of their demand abroad. The deal, expected to enter into force ahead of the 2025–26 heating season, offers member states cost-saving flexibility while preserving a headline target seen as vital for winter security of supply; a full review will decide by 2027 whether permanent rules should replace this stop-gap arrangement.
This week, the European Commission presented its new chemical Package during the European Parliament's Plenary meeting in Strasbourg,
The presentation was followed by an exchange of view with the Member. As expected, the discussion highlights a tension between supporting the struggling European chemical industry and upholding stringent environmental and public health standards.
I. The Dire State of the European Chemical IndustryA central theme is the critical decline of the European chemical industry, facing numerous challenges that threaten its global competitiveness and employment base.
The presentation was followed by an exchange of view with the Member. As expected, the discussion highlights a tension between supporting the struggling European chemical industry and upholding stringent environmental and public health standards.
I. The Dire State of the European Chemical IndustryA central theme is the critical decline of the European chemical industry, facing numerous challenges that threaten its global competitiveness and employment base.
- Significant Decline in Turnover: Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné states, "La chimie connaît une chute de près de 50 % de son chiffre d’affaires mondial depuis vingt ans." This dramatic reduction underscores the urgency of intervention.
- Economic Pressures: The industry is grappling with "prix élevés de l’énergie, à une faible demande, à une concurrence déloyale, souvent venue de l’Asie, mais également à une complexité réglementaire, aux coûts induits par la décarbonation… et à la pression financière de la fin des quotas carbone gratuits."
- Deindustrialization and Plant Closures: Christian Ehler (PPE Group) paints a stark picture of "dramatic deindustrialisation" by listing numerous recent plant closures by major chemical companies like BASF, Dyneon, Lanxess, Evonik, and Dow across Germany, emphasizing that "This is just Germany. Its dramatic and abstract figures don't help." He warns, "we are simply ruling out the industrial base of the chemical industry in Europe."
- Strategic Importance: Despite its struggles, the chemical sector is described as "mère de toutes les industries" (Séjourné), present in "l’ensemble des secteurs stratégiques et industriels, de notre défense militaire jusqu’à nos médicaments en passant par les objets connectés." It represents "1,2 million d’emplois directs en Europe" and supports "90 % de la chaîne de valeur industrielle."
- Support for European Production and Innovation:Critical Chemicals Alliance: Creation of an "Alliance pour les produits chimiques critiques" to focus on strategic molecules (e.g., methanol, acetic acid) and sites to reduce dependency, with a roadmap for identification and mapping.
- Essential Chemical Sites: Support for the creation and modernization of industrial ecosystems where industrial bases, skills, know-how, and infrastructure are already present, attracting "nouveaux éléments d’innovation, d’emploi, de financement."
- International Market Development & Protection: The Alliance will help develop new markets and protect the internal market from "concurrence déloyale venue de producteurs étrangers," with over 18 investigations launched since 2024.
- Lowering Energy Prices and Decarbonization Support:State Aid Regime Extension: Possible extension of state aid to compensate for energy price increases for certain chemical sites.
- Regulatory Flexibility: Accelerating authorization procedures for modernizing industrial sites.
- Circular Economy Market: Aiming for a true European market for the circular economy.
- Demand Support:European Content & Sustainability Criteria: Introduction of "critères de contenu européen et de durabilité dans les marchés publics et privés."
- Innovation Hubs: Opening "pôles d’innovation pour permettre l’émergence de nouveaux acteurs dans le domaine de la chimie de pointe."
- Simplification:Regulatory Streamlining: Aiming for "une économie anticipée de 400 millions d’euros par an" through simplification, while maintaining "un seuil de protection du consommateur et de l’environnement qui soit élevé."
- REACH Regulation Revision: Proposed revision of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) regulations to address financial, governance, and speed challenges through modernization and simplification of REACH.
- "One Substance, One Assessment" Initiative: Anja Arndt (ESN Group) welcomes this as it "creates finally more overview, avoids double work, and data should be accessible in one place."
- Weakening of Environmental and Health Protections:"Return to the Past": Christophe Clergeau (S&D Group) "condemns with the greatest firmness this proposal, which orchestrates an extraordinary return to the past and endangers human health and the environment." He argues it "has nothing to do with simplification, unless, for you, simplifying means giving up on the use of dangerous products and exempting companies from their responsibilities."
- Increased Exposure to Dangerous Products: Critics allege the proposals "vont augmenter l’exposition à des produits dangereux." Specific concerns include:
- Relaxing rules on packaging and labeling readability.
- Allowing longer timelines for labeling changes when product classification changes.
- Relaxing the use of carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic (CMR) substances in cosmetics and removing the obligation to analyze alternative solutions.
- Authorizing the marketing of cosmetic products containing prohibited substances for up to 36 months.
- "Permit to Poison": Marie Toussaint (Verts/ALE Group) vehemently states, "ce que vous nous présentez aujourd’hui, c’est un permis d’empoisonner délivré au pire de l’industrie chimique." She directly links the measures to "multiplier les cancers."
- Undermining Previous Legislation: Martin Hojsík (Renew Group) notes disappointment that "labelling legislation, which was only recently adopted by this House with a big majority, is being undermined by a Commission proposal." Jutta Paulus (Verts/ALE Group) highlights that "Responsible manufacturers have already invested... Now all of that is to be reversed?"
- PFAS and "Forever Chemicals": Several MEPs, including Mohammed Chahim (S&D Group) and Katri Kulmuni (Renew Group), raise serious concerns about PFAS. Séjourné acknowledges, "Certaines applications des PFAS sont essentielles, et il sera sans doute difficile de s’en passer totalement." Commissioner Roswall clarifies the Commission's two-stream approach: banning PFAS in consumer products where alternatives exist, and ensuring safe handling for industrial applications where "there are not yet good alternatives."
- Precautionary Principle: Jutta Paulus argues that the Commission is deciding "against the health of citizens, against progress and innovation and against the containment of the flood of pollutants in our rivers, in our soils and in our blood." She emphasizes, "The precautionary principle... is not an administrative detail that can simply be cut. It is anchored in the European treaties."
- Bureaucracy and Lack of Real Simplification:"Schoolbook Example of Excessive EU Bureaucracy": Beatrice Timgren (ECR Group) criticizes "One substance, one assessment" as a "schoolbook example of over-driven EU bureaucracy," arguing it increases "paperwork without improving safety" and "shifts more power to the EU chemical agency and we get less insight."
- Too Late and Not Enough: Anja Arndt (ESN Group) states, "These simplifications come too late... A whole industry is migrating, and you have caused this here!" Marcin Sypniewski (ESN Group) believes the package is "still too cautious, is late and still too bureaucratic."
- Industry's Role and Investment:Profit vs. Health: Mohammed Chahim questions, "Gelooft u echt dat dát is wat de mensen willen? Winst ten koste van gezondheid?" César Luena (S&D Group) adds, "the chemical sector is very profitable... Therefore, there is no need to harm public health... in the name of competitiveness."
- Need for Investment: Chahim argues for "investments in the grid... A European investment agenda for chemistry to green it. Access to green molecules." Massimiliano Salini (PPE Group) calls for a "European single market for electricity with harmonized prices" and prudent management of ETS proceeds to finance innovative projects.
- Competitiveness and Protection Hand-in-Hand: Commissioner Roswall reiterates, "Many have today mentioned competitiveness and it has also been mentioned, of course, strong protection for health and the environment. These two things must go hand in hand."
- Science-Based Decisions: Séjourné states, regarding PFAS, "nous nous fondons sur la science et uniquement la science pour pouvoir prendre des décisions." Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska (PPE) emphasizes "a smart simplification with a priority for safety" that is "based on science."
- Technological Neutrality and Risk Assessment: Massimiliano Salini calls for "neutralité technologique" and to "avoid the idea of generic danger, of generic risk, but to evaluate the specific risk of substances, in order to keep innovation and safety for people together."
- Supporting Workers and Innovation: Dennis Radtke (PPE Group) highlights that the chemical industry offers "top wages... for people without an academic degree," underscoring the social impact of its decline. He urges for "clear commitments with regard to a future REACH regulation and also with regard to the question: How do we proceed with PFAS?"
