CEFIC calls for EU action on chemicals rescue plan

“For us, it is way past 12 o’clock,” said CEFIC president Ilham Kadri, urging EU leaders to act on the association’s-point rescue plan to prevent further shutdowns and loss of investments. Kadri, who is also CEO of Syenqo, was speaking at the High-Level Strategic Dialogue on the Chemical Industry Package with the European Commission.

EU industry is facing “declining demand, soaring energy prices and growing regulatory burdens” as highlighted in the broader Antwerp Declaration. Without immediate, targeted action, she argued, more production sites will shut down, investments will move elsewhere and Europe will fall further behind global competitors. 

“Today, companies are halting investments in Europe while our global competitors race ahead,” Kadri said. “Without urgent action, we risk losing an entire industrial base. This is not just about chemicals; it’s about Europe’s economic and strategic future.”

CEFIC has laid out ten “urgent actions” that must be included in a comprehensive Chemical Industry Package. These, it says, “must go beyond PFAS and REACH and ensure that Europe’s chemicals industry receives the urgent and tailored support it needs to restore its base in Europe”:

1. A plan to secure EU value chains of chemicals used in the European defence industries, making chemicals a full part of the Readiness 2030 ambition
2. Direct, immediate measures to lower energy costs, including  reinstating organic chemicals in the EU’s indirect cost compensation list and ensuring hydrogen is a viable low-carbon energy fuel, as well as the Affordable Energy Action Plan
3. A clear policy of urgency on trade protection, fast-tracking anti-dumping measures and securing a strong EU response to tariff disputes and Russian sanctions
4. An omnibus package to ease administrative burdens on large and small companies
5. Clarifying mass balance accounting rules for chemical recycling to as soon as possible
6. A dedicated policy for access to secure affordable bio-based and circular feedstocks in order to meet climate targets, including leveraging Ukraine’s potential
7. Lowering VAT rates and implementing market-pull measures in the main chemical outlet markets to create demand
8. Full support for securing EU production of APIs in the Critical Medicines Act and further analysis of the French proposal for a Critical Chemicals Act
9. Dedicated funding for the chemical industry in the EU Competitiveness Fund, the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act and the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, including a dedicated public-private partnership or R&I fund for demonstration plants
10.  Building on CEFIC’s recently issued ten-point action plan to simplify REACH, with targeted measures that ensure predictability for investment

The action plan (https://cefic.org/app/uploads/2025/02/Cefics-10-Point-Action-to-Simplify-REACH.pdf.) was issued earlier in the year in the run-up to the EC’s planned ‘targeted revision’ of REACH. CEFIC said at the time that the plan “brings forward concrete proposals to simplify rules, streamline processes, and foster innovation, all while upholding robust standards for safety and environmental protection”. Key points include:

• Predictable & evidence-based regulations, with transparent timelines and decisions grounded in robust assessment
• Avoiding unnecessary administrative requirements and leveraging existing legal mechanisms for chemical risk management
• Improving data requirements and processes, including the adoption of New Approach Methodologies for chemical safety assessments
• Ensuring fair enforcement for a level playing field between EU and non-EU manufacturers