Franck Leroy, President of the Grand Est region of France and Chair of the Automotive Regions Alliance (ARA) since 1 January, advocated a pragmatic approach to decarbonising the sector at a press briefing on Tuesday 27 January.
“If we want to preserve an industry and help it to make this transition, in a timeframe that is longer than the nine years remaining between now and 2035, I think we need to be pragmatic and review the trajectory”, he said (see EUROPE 13787/16).
In addition to carmakers, he also mentioned subcontractors and equipment manufacturers. “Some of them are in the process of reducing their production volumes for combustion engines, but irrespective of that, the electricity market is not taking off. Others have been lost to the combustion sector, notably those that produce exhaust fumes. We need to give them time to reposition themselves in the automotive market or other markets”, he stressed. He advocated support for these players through European or national funds. He also argued in favour of restricting access for Chinese vehicles to the European market, denouncing “a distortion of competition”.
At the same time, he also supported the steel safeguard measures (see EUROPE 13795/4), for the automotive industry, but also because his region is France's third-largest steel-producing region. “When we know the conditions under which steel is produced in these countries, we cannot ask our producers to make steel that is greener than green”, he said. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)