Spain on 24 September 2026 in Brussels presented a more flexible model for the origin rules of Made in Europe Industry and Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu argued at the Competitiveness Council for a phased approach that would not make access to public contracts and subsidies dependent solely on rigid thresholds for value added in Europe. The aim is to secure investment – explicitly including investment from China – in key industries such as Automotive and Battery production while also strengthening the European Union’s industrial base.
Spain’s proposal envisages a multi-layered system: production in European Union member states would form its core. The European Economic Area and defined partners could be included at a second level. A third level would cover countries with close ties through trade or cooperation agreements. The key would be for projects in certain sectors to meet the criteria for sufficient value added and mutual interdependence, and retain access to preferences, despite globally interconnected supply chains.
Hereu justified the proposal by saying that Europe needs to advance reindustrialisation without cutting off important capital inflows in the short term. Spain is positioning itself between more far-reaching protectionist demands and an open investment strategy. Government sources say that a sector-specific framework would give Brussels the ability to protect particularly sensitive areas more strongly while remaining flexible where international division of labour is indispensable.
The background is debate over new industrial and procurement rules from the European Commission. Preference mechanisms for European suppliers and specific minimum shares of value added in Europe as a condition of access are under discussion. Industry associations – particularly in the automotive sector – warn that excessively rigid thresholds could disrupt supply chains, raise costs and drive investment elsewhere. Supporters of stricter rules, by contrast, point to the need to reduce strategic dependencies and build domestic capacity.
The Council will now discuss Spain’s proposal as part of the wider legislative process. Whether, and in what form, the multi-tier structure is adopted will depend on negotiations over permitted exemptions and binding percentage thresholds. The industrial policy decisions are directly relevant to Spain: several major projects potentially involving Chinese companies are in the pipeline and could benefit from clear but not excessively restrictive rules.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).