Socialist MEP Sérgio Gonçalves contested statements made by PSD MEP Paulo Nascimento Cabral regarding an amendment related to the application of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to the Outermost Regions (ORs). Gonçalves accused the social democrat of making an interpretation "that does not correspond to reality".
The amendment in question is amendment 134, presented by PSD MEP Lídia Pereira on behalf of the EPP Group. Paulo Nascimento Cabral invoked this amendment to advocate, among other aspects, for a derogation for the ORs with no expiry date and the possibility of circulating certain products between these regions.
Sérgio Gonçalves argues, however, that the amendment "does not create the derogation" nor does it establish the pointed conditions, suggesting it could be temporary. According to the socialist MEP, the alteration primarily aims to prevent any potential derogation granted to the ORs from being used to circumvent CBAM rules. Goods covered by a derogation, if subsequently introduced into the rest of the EU without "substantial transformation" in an outermost region, would again be subject to the mechanism's obligations.
