Reuters .

European leaders are set to discuss such industrial policy at a Feb. 9-10 summit in Brussels, worried that Washington’s $369 billion inflation-busting law, which aims to subsidize products ranging from diversions to electric cars, solar panels and wind turbines, may cause the company to leave the EU.

• “Implementation of an ambitious and reliable European industrial policy is important today. French authorities are proposing that this take the form of a “Made in Europe” strategy, according to a document prepared by French authorities and seen by Reuters.

Last March, weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, EU leaders agreed that Europe should reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers of energy, vital raw materials, semiconductors, medicine and food .

What the “Made in Europe” plan entails.

The document drawn up by the French authorities calls for urgent measures, in particular to preserve European companies involved in the production of photovoltaic panels, batteries, hydrogen and vital raw materials, stressing that the “Made in Europe” strategy should be based on four pillars. .

• First, the EU should focus on reducing dependence on external suppliers and setting production targets by 2030 in key sectors that will be governed by European laws, as the Community Semiconductor Block did with the Chip Act.
• The EU will also have to simplify and accelerate the issuing of permits for the installation of new production capacities and reform the energy market to ensure that European industrial companies have access to cheap energy.
• The second pillar will consist of urgently amending EU rules on the aid that governments can provide to companies, so that the emergency state aid to companies already authorized during the COVID-19 pandemic can continue for certain targeted sectors, but on a temporary basis. . Government support can take the form of subsidies or tax breaks to provide more clarity to companies now making investment decisions.
• The third pillar would take the form of EU funding for sensitive sectors, which would help to even out the disparate fiscal powers between member states when it comes to supporting industries. In this case, it could be a fund that uses general loans and therefore has low costs, which it passes on to member states in the form of cheap loans. Paris has also proposed the creation of an “emergency fund” that would repurpose funds already raised by the EU for other purposes, with the idea of ​​helping the EU invest in strategic projects for European industry.
• Finally, the EU is due to create a new “sovereign fund” by the end of this year, which will take on the powers of an emergency fund to target sensitive sectors.
• The final pillar of the strategy will be the full mobilization of commercial policy, including the latest trade defense instruments.

According to the French authorities, if EU leaders had announced these measures at their summit on February 9-10, they would have assured companies that the EU is determined to increase the bloc’s economic attractiveness, preventing companies from moving outside Europe, a real danger today. (Source: Agerpres)