On Wednesday 12 March in Brussels, EU industry ministers discussed the measures proposed by the Commission in its ‘Clean Industrial Deal’. Its philosophy seems to be shared by all. The details of the measures, some of which will be published later this year, will not be debated until the coming weeks and months. “I’m measuring the expectations for future initiatives. The Commission is ready to respond”, said Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.
He spoke of a sense of urgency, which could only have been heightened by the announcement on Wednesday 12 March of the bankruptcy of battery giant Northvolt in Sweden. The company was unable to raise the finance it needed to survive, leaving 5,000 employees out in the cold.
Northvolt faced a series of cumulative challenges, “including rising capital costs, geopolitical instability, supply chain disruptions and changes in market demand”, the company explained.
Stéphane Séjourné took the opportunity to reiterate the need to support the battery sector. “It is vital that European subsidies and State aid should benefit production. I pushed this logic very hard to the College. It’s a young industry, only five years old; if we want to achieve our target of 40% European battery production by 2030, we need to give clear support to this battery industry”, he insisted at the end of the ‘Competitiveness’ Council.
Financing industry. Spain took a similar message to Brussels on Wednesday, presenting a document backed by five other countries on the future ‘European Competitiveness Fund’. Spain’s Minister for Industry, Jordi Hereu, sees the next Multiannual Financial Framework as a “unique opportunity” to provide the European Competitiveness Fund with “sufficient resources to meet the challenges ahead”.
Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal and France have joined the call for a robust industrial policy. While Romania supported the approach, it warned against redistribution of financing between Member States. This must not be based on “political lobbying by the Member States. We need to be sure that all Member States will have access to this financing mechanism”, said Romanian Economy Minister Ivan Bogdan-Gruia.
To see the Spanish document: https://aeur.eu/f/fwt (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)