European Council conclusions on official export credits

(European Council, Brussels, 15 March 2022) The Council's conclusion underlines that officially supported export credits are key levers in order to achieve priority policy goals for the European Union and its Member States. Such goals include the building of a strong industrial Europe, while ensuring the transition to low greenhouse gas emissions. Officially supported export credits are essential for Europe's global industrial competitiveness as they support European companies in competing for contracts and projects overseas, thereby providing jobs and growth, including for Small and Medium Enterprises, across EU Member States. Officially supported export credits originated by EU Member States are highly regulated, notably by the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits and EU Regulation No. 1233/201. They note that "these disciplines have not been sufficiently modernized, given the evolution of global value chains and the international competition from non-OECD countries". They further note "that even though there has been increased progress in the negotiations on the OECD Arrangement, they are still not keeping up with the pace demanded by both changing economic and climate environments". While acknowledging "the need to adapt export credit policies accordingly, in an effort to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels", the Council conclusions focus on the goal of a "global level playing field and the modernisation of the OECD Arrangement" with a view to ensuring that "officially supported export credits are essential for Europe's global industrial competitiveness as they support European companies in competing for contracts and projects overseas". ECA Watch notes that this EU position on ending public support for fossil fuels fails to do exactly that. See our statement issued on March 15th.