Investment in innovation and skills could greatly help the just transition of the EU’s car-producing regions, according to European experts speaking at a conference organised by the European Committee of the Regions on Wednesday 22 May.
Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, Director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) (DG GROW), presented the state of play and future challenges for the automotive regions concerned. The automotive industry in the EU is facing major challenges resulting from three main trends: the green transition, the digital transition and the intensification of global competition. The electrification of vehicles, compliance with legislation, the availability of raw materials and geopolitical factors all present difficulties for the regions.
In his view, the regional transformation strategy should “primarily focus on the local automotive industry and its workforce, and to a lesser extent on related industries”. Government capacity and support for suppliers of raw materials should not be the main areas of intervention. On the contrary, innovation and investment programmes as well as employment and retraining policies are considered to be the most important elements.
“The real question we need to discuss is how to ensure that industrial transition and the inclusion of the automotive sectors are part and parcel of the missions and objectives of the next investment package that the Commission will propose, and what place the regions will have in shaping and deciding on those investments”, emphasised Nicola de Michelis, Director of Future Support for Just Transition at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO).
Mark Nicklas, Head of Unit at DG GROW, believes that the most important thing is to help SMEs transform, because they are not sufficiently aware of innovation. “We need to look at new growth sectors”, he said.
“I’m convinced that electrification is not the only road to take. There are other solutions, such as biofuels, synthetic fuels and hydrogen”, said Guido Guidesi, Minister for Economic Development in the Italian region of Lombardy. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)