Skip to main content
European Commission logo
enen
Law
Competition Policy

Implementation dialogue on Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) with Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera

IPCEIs are a State aid instrument designed to boost growth, jobs and competitiveness in the EU. In her first Implementation Dialogue, EVP Ribera will debate how IPCEIs can be made simpler, faster and more effective.

ImplementationDialogues-EVP-Teresa-Ribera_20250630.jpg

  • State aid policy | Important Projects of Common European Interest

  • Monday 30 June 2025, 9:30 (CEST)

The European Commission approved the first Important Project of Common European Interest under State aid rules in 2018. The ten projects approved since have involved almost 250 companies from 22 EU countries. Over €37 billion in public funds have been approved, for total investments estimated at over €100 billion, when private funds are accounted for. IPCEIs have been effective in tracing the path for a forward-looking industrial policy for the whole of the EU.

Objectives of the dialogue

The dialogue will be an opportunity to assess IPCEIs together with companies and national authorities after seven years of implementation. The main goal is debating how the instrument can be made more accessible and have a bigger impact in terms of addressing important market failures; fostering research and development and the creation of major open-access infrastructure; and encouraging the companies that receive government subsidies to significantly co-finance the projects.

Special focus will be placed on SMEs, which account for around 20% of participating companies on average, but have grown from the 7% in the first IPCEI approved in 2018 to the 64% in the one approved in 2024.

Themes to be discussed

Participants will be invited to debate the three overarching themes that – together – are the core policy rationale of IPCEIs; the main reason why they were introduced and have attracted so much interest over the years. In question form:

  • Have IPCEIs helped companies work on breakthrough innovation?
  • Have they provided spillovers across the EU?
  • Have they helped create or strengthen Europe-wide industrial ecosystems?

Format and programme

Around 30 representatives of government authorities and companies from Spain and the rest of Europe with first-hand experience of IPCEI projects will participate in an open discussion chaired by EVP Ribera. As prospective participants are invited to the dialogue, every effort is being made to achieve a balanced representation in terms of gender and company scale.

  1. 9:30-10:00
    Welcome coffee
  2. 10:00-12:00
    Implementation dialogue
  3. 12:00-12:30
    Reception

Practical information

  • Sala Europa of the Commission Representation in Spain

    Paseo de la Castellana, 46, Salamanca, 28046 Madrid

  • Monday 30 June 2025

    9:30 - 12:30 (CEST)

  • English and Spanish

    Simultaneous interpretation is available