The European Committee of the Regions adopted an urgent resolution at its plenary session on Thursday 3 April, calling for a stronger regional approach in the implementation of the European Commission's Industrial Action Plan for the European automotive sector.
The Committee emphasised the lack of a coherent EU industrial policy for the automotive sector, as highlighted in the Draghi report, and called for a comprehensive European transition strategy for the automotive industry.
It therefore recommends the creation of a regional dialogue on just transition, based on solid partnerships between the social partners and public authorities at all levels of governance, with the aim of finding local solutions. It also calls for the creation of an ‘implementation dialogue with automotive regions’ aimed at establishing a structured platform for car-producing regions and regional automotive clusters to exchange best practice with the European Commission and contribute to the implementation of the measures of the Industrial Action Plan for the European automotive sector, presented at the beginning of March (see EUROPE 13593/14).
The Committee also advocates increased funding for just transition in the EU’s next long-term budget, in particular through a strengthened cohesion policy. This increase should address existing regional disparities and promote location-based solutions to ensure that support is tailored to the specific needs of each region, particularly those most affected by the transition to climate neutrality.
Read the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/gak (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)