Renew welcomes STEP, but fully fledged Sovereignty Fund needed to deliver on challenges ahead

As the European Parliament adopts its negotiation position on the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, STEP, on Monday, Renew Europe calls on the European Commission to present a legislative proposal for a fully-fledged Sovereignty Fund when they present the evaluation of STEP in 2025.

Renew believes that STEP is a central tool in securing European leadership on critical technologies and the group is actively contributing in shaping the platform to ensure that it, once established, will strengthen European industries’ competitiveness and resilience. However, the group deeply regrets that the Commission has not taken our repeated calls of establishing a much-needed dedicated Sovereignty Fund into the current long-term budget, MFF, of the European Union. It is imperative to do so in order to secure a truly European future for our industries.

Valérie HAYER (Renaissance, France) represents Renew Europe in the negotiations of STEP. She says:

"With STEP, the European sovereignty moves from concept to concrete measure: we will reduce our key dependencies and boost investments in critical sectors for our economy. But we are still at a low pace, far behind our international competitors. Only a full-fledged European Sovereignty Fund would live up to the challenges ahead, and Renew will continue to fight for it."