European Industry Ministers were cautious, at the Competitiveness Council on Monday 18 February, about the Clean Planet strategy to establish a climate-neutral economy by 2050, with many, if not most, fearing that the Union would become a "low-carbon island" with an unsustainable cost for industry in the face of an international ocean that does not meet the same environmental standards.
During the exchanges, a line was drawn in a schematic way, with nuances between a very ambitious Northern Europe on the sustainability objectives and a Southern and Eastern Europe in favour of objectives that take into account national and regional specificities.
Denmark has undoubtedly been the most aggressive state to support ambitious targets, recalling the "gigantic" cost of inaction and lamenting the fact that the EU has done nothing over the past 10 years. The Scandinavian country insisted that the green transition should be seen in terms of "growth" and not only in terms of "costs".
However, a majority of Member States used ambivalent rhetoric, welcoming the ambition of the stated objectives while insisting on the need to have "realistic" objectives, which take into account the specific territorial and sectoral characteristics (particularly for energy-intensive industries) in the face of international competition which is not subject – in the vast majority – to standards as stringent as those in Europe. These are points on which Spain and Hungary have been very clear.
France emphasised the need to put a carbon tax at the borders of the European Union to mitigate the effects of international competition. Many Member States have emphasised the need to review European state aid rules, such as the Czech Republic and Greece, and also the importance of ensuring legislative "stability" to secure investment.
Everyone was also talking about the energy issue, with many delegations highlighting the need for massive investment in batteries and energy storage technologies. Italy highlighted the interest of LNG for a transitional period. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, for their part, emphasised the role of nuclear energy in meeting climate objectives. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)