The French Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, Bruno Le Maire, announced at a press briefing on Monday 15 February the imminent presentation of new proposals in the area of industry with his German counterpart, the German Federal Minister of Economy and Energy, Peter Altmaier. He also expressed his willingness to create a new important project of common European interest (IPCEI) in the field of electronic components.
Recalling the role played by Germany and France in the field of industrial policy, particularly in recent years with the Franco-German initiative of February 2019 (see EUROPE 12192/16), Mr Le Maire announced that he would meet with the German Minister tomorrow to prepare new proposals that they intend to submit to the European Commission and the other Member States.
For the French Minister, creating new European value chains is a matter of urgency. “We want to accelerate the development of a European electronic components industry. We want a second project of collective European interest on electronic components to be adopted this year, after the first, which dealt with nanoelectronics”, he said, pointing to certain “unacceptable industrial shortcomings”. The Minister also targeted Europe’s over-dependence on Asia in particular, especially that of the European automobile sector with regard to electronic components.
The French Minister also insisted on the need to review the competition rules and to fight against the takeovers by foreign competitors of European industrial icons.
The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, confirmed that the industrial strategy of March 2020 was destined to be strengthened by drawing lessons from the pandemic. To this end, he cited the field of health, as well as semiconductors.
The update of the strategy is scheduled for 17 March next (see EUROPE 12650/6). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)