Europe needs to protect its own industries with a “Made in Europe” strategy, EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne said in a newspaper article published across Europe on Sunday. This was co-signed by over 1,100 CEOs and business leaders.
“Without an ambitious, effective and pragmatic industrial policy, the European economy is doomed to be just a playground for its competitors,” said Sejourne.
The French member of the European Commission was in agreement, “We must establish, once and for all, a genuine European preference in our most strategic sectors.”
Required To Prioritise Local Manufacturing
The opinion piece by Sejourne was published ahead of the new proposed implementation of the Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act later this month. This Act was brought forward as part of the Commission’s communication on the Clean Industrial Deal, hoping to introduce clean, resilient, cybersecure criteria to increase demand for EU-made clean products and speed up permitting for decarbonisation efforts in energy-intensive sectors. It will also set requirements to prioritise manufacturing locally.
This proposal, an attempt to boost European industries to rival the cheaper imports from China, has divided EU countries.
Policy Could Hurt EU’s Competitiveness Globally
Governments like France are championing the idea; however, others like Sweden and the Czech Republic have warned that the “buy local” requirements could deter investments, raise prices in government tenders and possibly hurt the EU’s global competitiveness.
Sejourne believes that Europe’s best answer “can be summed up in three words”: ‘Made in Europe’.
He stated, “The Chinese have ‘Made in China’, the Americans have ‘Buy American’, and most other economic powers have similar schemes, that give preference to their own strategic assets. So why not us?”
“Whenever European public money is used, it must contribute to European production and quality jobs.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
