Thursday

28th Mar 2024

'The race is on', EU Commission warns on green tech

  • EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs Europe needs to get its 'act together' if it wants to stay a frontrunner (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen hit an optimistic note on Wednesday (15 March) on the European bloc and the US managing to solve a trade dispute over subsidising clean technologies, and pledged to help EU industries more.

The commission chief said the EU is set to create simpler state-aid schemes, allow tax breaks and the flexible use of EU funds as a response to the US's plans to support domestic green tech as part of US president Joe Biden's $369bn (€350bn) Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Last week, during her Washington visit, an understanding was reached on electric vehicles to allow European carmakers to get access to the US market, and US tax breaks, she said.

EU and US negotiations are also set to launch on giving EU producers of critical minerals access to the US market.

The bloc aims to produce at least 40 percent of the clean tech needed by 2030 in the 27-nation bloc, von der Leyen added, as the EU and US seem to get entangled in a race for the bulk of green and digital industries.

The commission is expected to detail its plans on Thursday as part of the Net-Zero Industry Act on industrial incentives.

The other proposals set for Thursday, the Critical Raw Materials Act, seeks to reduce EU over-reliance on China on materials key for the digital industry, such as lithium.

Currently, the EU gets 98 percent of its rare earth supply from China, and 97 percent of its lithium from China.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine hammered home the point in Europe, which had been overly reliant on Russian gas exports, not to be too exposed to one source.

The commission's plans are expected to boost capacity in the EU and improve recycling of these materials.

The net-zero act would accelerate technologies including solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries.

"By 2030, we want to be able to produce at least 40 percent of the clean tech that we need here to fulfil our green transition," von der Leyen said.

"The race is on. The race on who is going to be dominant in this [net-zero technologies] market in the future. We must get our act together if we want to stay frontrunners," she told MEPs in Strasbourg.

Where is the money?

German MEP, and leader of the centre-right European People's Party's group in the parliament, Manfred Weber, said that Europe is not competitive enough.

Weber also said the failed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could have avoided the frictions caused by IRA, arguing that the EU needs more free-trade deals.

For his part, the liberal Renew Europe leader, French MEP Stéphane Séjourné criticised the commission for not doing more to help businesses.

"I still don't see any exemptions for European companies on the America market I see unfair competition everywhere, particularly in Asia," he said, adding that may small European businesses are still waiting for their recovery funds from EU subsidies.

Opinion

More money, more problems in EU answer to US green subsidies

Industrial energy-intense sectors, outside Germany and France, will not move to the US. They will go bust, as they cannot compete in a fragmented single market. So to save industry in two member states, we will kill the rest?

Agenda

EU summit zooms in on global roles This WEEK

Competitiveness is expected be on the top of the agenda of EU leaders after the EU Commission last week rolled out a series of proposals to boost the bloc's capacity in green tech.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us