EUROMETAL contributes to high-level European Commission Dialogue on Environmental Assessments and Permitting

At the invitation of Commissioner Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, EUROMETAL took part in a high-level Implementation Dialogue on Environmental Assessments and Permitting.

The event convened key institutional and industry stakeholders to explore how to improve environmental permitting processes across the EU, with a focus on efficiency, predictability, and alignment with Europe’s green and industrial objectives.

Representing EUROMETAL, President Alexander Julius shared insights from Europe’s steel distribution, processing, and manufacturing sectors, emphasising that streamlined environmental assessments and permitting are critical not only for large industrial projects, but also for enabling innovation and investment across the wider manufacturing ecosystem.

The dialogue highlighted key challenges faced by EUROMETAL members, including fragmented procedures, limited administrative coordination, delays in grid connection approvals, and a shortage of qualified environmental professionals. These issues were further illustrated through concrete member experiences submitted ahead of the event.

In response, EUROMETAL presented a set of strategic recommendations to the European Commission, aimed at modernising and harmonising permitting frameworks, promoting digital tools, clarifying end-of-waste criteria, and aligning procedures with the EU Taxonomy for sustainable investment.

In her concluding remarks, Commissioner Roswall outlined the Commission’s priorities for reform, including better access to data, improved administrative capacity, process digitisation, clearer EU-level guidance, and stronger public engagement. She reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to continuously improving permitting procedures in support of environmental protection and industrial competitiveness.

EUROMETAL remains fully committed to working with EU institutions and Member States to ensure that permitting processes become a strategic enabler of Europe’s green and industrial transitions, not a bottleneck.