The Ministers of Industry of the EU Member States discussed the future of the industrial mobility ecosystem in the context of the EU’s green transition at the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 24 February.
The competent ministers discussed the various mobility-related aspects of the ‘Fit for 55’ package presented by the European Commission on 14 July 2021 (see EUROPE 12764/10), such as the regulations on alternative fuel infrastructure for vehicles (AFIR) (see EUROPE 12883/8) and the deployment of alternative fuels in the air transport (‘ReFuelEU Aviation’) (see EUROPE 12878/17) and maritime (‘FuelEU Maritime’) sectors (see EUROPE 12892/33).
On this point, attention was drawn to the importance of training and retraining for the employees concerned.
“In the automotive sector alone, 15 million European jobs are concerned in the EU, and around three to four million jobs could be created thanks to electric batteries”, said French Minister for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“These texts will imply extraordinarily profound transformations of our production chains and our skill needs”, she added.
Investment needs
In order to achieve the mobility objectives - in particular, the transport sector must succeed in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050 - the ministers emphasised the significant need for funding and investment.
“We can only achieve this with substantial support and investment. We would like to have the first views of the European countries on the markers and tools that we must use to carry out these transformations”, added the French Minister Delegate.
In addition, part of the discussions also focused on other industrial issues inherent to the development of infrastructure networks, support for industrial players, and standardisation.
“We need to control the supply of critical materials”, said Pannier-Runacher.
On this aspect, noted Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, there is “total convergence” of the Member States. “Sites within the EU” were also identified during the discussions as having critical materials.
Finally, during this first Competitiveness Council of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Ministers for Industry also took stock of their estimates of the costs and scope of the environmental transition in the mobility sector. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)