Giraffe
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EU Commission wants emergency rights to tell companies what to produce and for whom
"26 September 2022 | With its draft law for a “Single Market emergency instrument”, the EU Commission plans to obtain control over companies in any member state in the event of an unspecified crisis. The Commission wants the power to dictate to “crisis-relevant” companies what they have to produce and to whom they have to deliver it. Democracy and the market economy in Europe are at stake."
"The emergency instrument is an emergency law. And with emergency laws, the central issue is who decides to declare the state of emergency and how easy it is to activate the corresponding powers. Whoever can declare a state of emergency more or less at will has great power that they can abuse, even without actually declaring it. The planned SMEI-law gives more than enough cause for concern in this respect."
Crisis can be anything, especially climate change
"The Commission’s explanatory memorandum gives an idea of the variety of possibilities for states of emergency. In addition to actual or supposed pandemics such as Corona, the continuing effects of climate change, the natural disasters it causes, loss of biodiversity or economic and geopolitical instability are also mentioned. This sounds like a state of emergency as a potential new normal."
"Let’s assume that the Commission and enough member states will adopt the view of the Fridays for Future movement that climate change is a crisis that threatens humanity and must be tackled with radical measures, and thus declare a state of climate emergency. The point here is not whether this would be right, only what the EU Commission could do with the emergency powers it would get – probably quite permanently."
"Already in the self-declared surveillance mode, the Commission can set targets for the stockpiling of crisis-relevant goods for the member states. If some member states do not (want to) achieve these targets, it can make the targets binding with the support of a simple majority of 14 member states, according to Article 12 . Thus, if there is no qualified majority in the Council to declare an emergency, the Commission and a simple majority in the Council can use the surveillance mode to drastically interfere with the member states."
"Once the emergency has been declared and after issuing a corresponding implementing regulation, the Commission can bypass national governments and require companies to comply with “priority orders” of crisis-relevant goods and products sent to them by the Commission. The Commission can thus tell companies what they have to produce and to whom they have to deliver it (as a matter of priority). In case of non-compliance, it can impose fines (Art. 24-28)."
"Let’s imagine that there is a shortage of important food products because of a climate crisis or because of the measures against it. The Commission can make it impossible for governments to react to this independently because it can take control of the production and distribution of crisis-related goods as well as prohibit governments from banning exports."
EU Commission wants emergency rights to tell companies what to produce and for whom
"26 September 2022 | With its draft law for a “Single Market emergency instrument”, the EU Commission plans to obtain control over companies in any member state in the event of an unspecified crisis. The Commission wants the power to dictate to “crisis-relevant” companies what they have to produce and to whom they have to deliver it. Democracy and the market economy in Europe are at stake."
"The emergency instrument is an emergency law. And with emergency laws, the central issue is who decides to declare the state of emergency and how easy it is to activate the corresponding powers. Whoever can declare a state of emergency more or less at will has great power that they can abuse, even without actually declaring it. The planned SMEI-law gives more than enough cause for concern in this respect."
Crisis can be anything, especially climate change
"The Commission’s explanatory memorandum gives an idea of the variety of possibilities for states of emergency. In addition to actual or supposed pandemics such as Corona, the continuing effects of climate change, the natural disasters it causes, loss of biodiversity or economic and geopolitical instability are also mentioned. This sounds like a state of emergency as a potential new normal."
"Let’s assume that the Commission and enough member states will adopt the view of the Fridays for Future movement that climate change is a crisis that threatens humanity and must be tackled with radical measures, and thus declare a state of climate emergency. The point here is not whether this would be right, only what the EU Commission could do with the emergency powers it would get – probably quite permanently."
Direct control over member states’ economies
"Already in the self-declared surveillance mode, the Commission can set targets for the stockpiling of crisis-relevant goods for the member states. If some member states do not (want to) achieve these targets, it can make the targets binding with the support of a simple majority of 14 member states, according to Article 12 . Thus, if there is no qualified majority in the Council to declare an emergency, the Commission and a simple majority in the Council can use the surveillance mode to drastically interfere with the member states."
"Once the emergency has been declared and after issuing a corresponding implementing regulation, the Commission can bypass national governments and require companies to comply with “priority orders” of crisis-relevant goods and products sent to them by the Commission. The Commission can thus tell companies what they have to produce and to whom they have to deliver it (as a matter of priority). In case of non-compliance, it can impose fines (Art. 24-28)."
"Let’s imagine that there is a shortage of important food products because of a climate crisis or because of the measures against it. The Commission can make it impossible for governments to react to this independently because it can take control of the production and distribution of crisis-related goods as well as prohibit governments from banning exports."
