Brussels, 10 April 2025
The European Commission has announced the launch of a Design Support Hub for Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), within which it will work closely with Member States to shape and design IPCEI candidates following their endorsement.
The Hub’s work will allow Member States to directly assign candidates in line with IPCEI rules, which will accelerate the entire process. The launch of the Hub follows the Clean Industrial Deal Communication, published on 26 February 2025.
The launch was announced during a high-level meeting of the Joint European Forum on Important Projects of Common European Interest (JEF-IPCEI). The Forum was attended by Executive Vice-Presidents, Teresa Ribera and Stéphane Séjourné and high-level representatives of the Member States.
The Forum also endorsed the launch of the design phase of a new potential IPCEI candidate on innovative nuclear technologies. Interested Member States will develop its scope and structure with support of the new IPCEI Design Support Hub.
Discussion at the forum further focused on:
(i) possible improvements to further simplify and speed up the IPCEI process;
(ii) how to use IPCEIs to achieve the objectives set out in the Clean Industrial Deal; and
(iii) options to facilitate EU co-financing of IPCEI projects.
Background on the Joint European Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interes (JEF-IPCEI)
- Objectives
- Key principles
- Members
- Adopted by the JEF-IPCEI
- Upcoming JEF-IPCEI Meetings – Draft Timeline
Objectives
The overarching objectives of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI (JEF-IPCEI) are to identify areas of strategic EU interest for potential future IPCEIs and to increase the effectiveness of the designing, assessment and implementation of IPCEI. The JEF-IPCEI will work towards these objectives by:
- Better aligning potential new IPCEIs with the policy objectives of the EU industrial strategy;
- Improving the process, speed, design and assessment of IPCEIs (based on existing State Aid rules) through facilitating exchanges on best practices, lessons learnt and streamlining procedural and operative framework conditions.
The JEF-IPCEI will cover the entire lifecycle of the IPCEI process and work on the following four workstreams: (1) Identification, (2) Design, (3) Assessment, and (4) Implementation and Evaluation.
Key principles
- A partnership between the Commission and Member States: The JEF-IPCEI is composed of Member State authorities and European Commission representatives. On an ad hoc basis, the JEF-IPCEI may also invite representatives from candidate countries, industry, academia and other stakeholders, only where relevant.
- A single forum co-led by Directorate General for Competition (DG COMP) and Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW): Exploiting the full potential of IPCEIs requires the combined expertise in their respective areas of DG GROW and DG COMP in a single, co-chaired forum. Other Commission services that are already or will potentially be involved in specific IPCEIs will also be invited when relevant.
- The forum is organised around two levels:
- High level: senior Member State officials responsible for economic and industrial policy (nominated by Member States) and senior officials from the European Commission.
- Technical level: Member State authorities responsible for IPCEI matters (nominated by Member States) and officials from the European Commission.
- Frequency: depending on the tasks to be addressed, the JEF-IPCEI would meet in either the technical or the high-level formation. The two levels will meet with different frequencies: potentially two (high-level) to four (technical level) meetings per year.
In the menu below, you will find more information on the participants of the JEF, the past JEF meetings and the upcoming meetings.
Members
Adopted by the JEF-IPCEI
- Collection of recommendations on Key Priorities 1 to 6 of the National Best Practices working group of the Joint European Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest, adopted by the high-level meeting of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI on 9 April 2025;
- Opinion of the Joint European Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest, adopted by the high-level meeting of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI on 27 November 2024;
- Recommendation of the Joint European Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest on the roles of associated and indirect partners in an IPCEI ecosystem, adopted by the high-level meeting of the Joint European Forum for IPCEI on 27 November 2024.
Source – EU Commission: JEF-IPCEI webpage.