Europe is the only continent to accept carbon neutrality, but it cannot regulate to achieve this level while at the same time being the one that invests the least, said French President Emmanuel Macron, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday 17 January.
According to the French President, Europe remains the appropriate level at which to take action and enable businesses to remain competitive in the face of international competition, at a time when the United States and China are “over-subsidising” their economies in the race for ‘net-zero emissions’ technologies.
Mr Macron advocated “a much stronger Europe of investment” and in particular “more European public investment”, as had been done to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, “perhaps by daring to use Eurobonds again”. He praised the “courage” of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who comes from a country “rather renowned for being frugal”, “to propose Eurobonds for the defence industry and Ukraine”. “Let’s get on with the big priorities for the future”, he added.
CMU. The French President’s second priority is to “deepen the union of capital markets” in the EU in order to achieve “a financial Europe that is much more integrated” and capable of mobilising savings that are abundant but poorly allocated from a geographical and sectoral point of view. “If there is a stalemate among the EU27, France will propose moving forward on closer cooperation on this issue”, he announced.
The industrial strategy sought by Mr Macron will require “a renewed social Europe”, capable of consolidating the “consultation model” to support the technological changes underway and guarantee stable and “well-paid” jobs.
To see the French President’s speech (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/ag4 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)