Brussels wants a better competitive position for the EU with money and flexibility
The EU must make itself more “investment and innovation friendly”. Europe should also invest more money in its own industries and especially clean technologies, says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Brussels is prepared to set up a special new fund for this and to relax state aid rules, the German said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
According to von der Leyen, this is necessary to withstand competition from China and the US, which heavily subsidize their own companies. Brussels is discussing a solution for this with “our American friends”. She warned China. “We will not be identified to conduct an investigation if we believe our procurement or other markets are being distorted by similar subsidies.”
The other discussion about how the EU should deal with trading powers without sharing the internal market has occupied the summary for some time. France, in particular, wants firm action and advocates allowing “massive state aid” for strategic sectors, French Finance Minister Le Maire said in Brussels.
The day-to-day EU board has announced that it will come up with proposals, but would first like to get as many noses as possible in the same direction. Euro Commissioner Vestager of Competition has answered a questionnaire on the review of European state aid rules to the summary, to which she expects a response no later than 25 January 2023. In her short, she calls for “a strong European response”. She also proposes setting up a common fund to support less wealthy summaries. According to Von der Leyen, this will take “some time”.
Countries such as Germany and the Netherlands do not see much in a new fund, where the committee can again borrow on the capital market. Minister Kaag of Finance did not want to respond to all plans in Brussels. The Netherlands does not want a new fund while there is still a lot of unused money in Brussels, but awaited the committee proposal. “We don’t have a final position yet,” she said.