“Once again, the Commission is postponing the Industrial Accelerator Act, this time to the end of February. At a moment when European industry is under intense pressure from global competitors, further delays only create uncertainty for businesses and investors”, was the criticism from Dutch EPP MEP Tom Berendsen and German MEP Christian Ehler on Friday 23 January.
“Ambition is important, but so is delivering on time. (...) Repeated postponements undermine the EU’s credibility and send the wrong signal to strategic sectors like steel and aluminium...”. This legislation on ‘Made in Europe’ for green technologies was due to be presented in December, then on 29 January (see EUROPE 13790/29).
Belgian MEP Yvan Verougstraete (Renew Europe) also reacted: “Talking about acceleration is fine, but first we actually need to get started. Europe must reindustrialise, strengthen its economic sovereignty, and stop losing strategic projects to the United States or China because Europe is simply too slow”.
The legislation could now be presented on 25 February. While there is some friction surrounding this project, which aims to establish a certain volume of European components or a threshold of local labour in the awarding of public procurement contracts or foreign direct investments, some people remain confident.
“Especially as ‘Made in Europe’ is already a given in certain areas, such as defence programmes and the automotive sector”, says one diplomat. “Of course, there are debates about what level of added value, which components and which strategic sectors should be involved? But everyone now accepts the concept of European preference”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)