The two governments also pushed for an easing of financial constraints for Europe’s struggling chemicals industry.
Merz and Macron pushed for an easing of recently-revised urban wastewater rules, which require cosmetics and pharmaceuticals companies to bear the bulk of the costs of cleaning up micropollutants in urban wastewater from the end of 2028.
The Commission has already committed to producing an updated study on impacts of the extended producer responsibility scheme, following strong industry pushback.
The statement from the EU’s two biggest economies sends a strong message to Brussels to push ahead with its drive to cut red tape.
“To unleash our companies’ full potential of growth and productivity it is … urgent to substantially ease the complexity and simplify the European Union’s regulatory environment,” the document states.
Materials recycling focus
The two leaders repeated calls for better rules to facilitate the recycling and reuse of critical raw materials (CRM), as EU countries scramble to reduce dependency on Chinese minerals essential in defense and the energy transition.