Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age—My complete notes from today's EP statement
You will find below my complete note on this morning's debates on the Commission's Green Deal Industrial Plan.
Summary of the debates
Green Deal Industrial Plan is the European answer to the American Inflation Reduction Act.
It is built on four pillars: reducing red tape, skills, financing investments, international trade and cooperation.
The debates were cut short by a demonstration in the plenary.
Statement from the Council — Jessika ROSWALL
Europe is under economic strain, between the war in Ukraine, trade rivalries with the USA and China, and the energy crisis. Thus, the debate on the Commission’s Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP) is timely.
European policymakers must reflect on what Europe needs to do to answer to the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). But Europe can’t only react and must propose initiative.
The GDIP proposes to underline the need to:
Simplify the European regulatory framework,
Equip citizens with appropriate skills for the green and digital transition,
Facilitate access to capital through private investments. The Capital Market Union must be finalised,
Support the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the rule-based international trade system.
The Council is looking forward to the Commission's ideas to boost competitiveness and make European economies future-proof.
Statement from the Commission — Mairead MCGUINNESS
Europe is tested by war, climate change, and trade rivalries. The continent must cut its CO2 emissions by 55% by the end of the decade, as foreseen by the “Fit for 55” plan. NextGenerationEU is helping Europe to emerge from the pandemic with a more sustainable economy. The war in Ukraine forces Euriope to step up.
Half the emission Europe needs to cut depend on innovation. It is an opportunity for growth and innovation.
In the coming years, thanks to the GDIP and other tools, Europe will be home to Clean Tech companies and green innovations. The Plan is based on four pillars:
The Regulatory environment must allow for speed and ease of access.
Financing. The GDIP will help speed up investments in green technologies and decarbonisation. It recognises the value of State aid from both large and small States. But public funding is not sufficient and private investors will do most of the work. Europe needs an equivalent to the American IRA.
Skills will help us train the people necessary for the transition to happen. Europe will soon need 800 000 workers in the battery sector and 1 million in the solar industry, twice as much as today. The GDIP will create well-paid and skilled jobs for the future
Trade will help deliver net-zero targets at the global level.
Europe will lead the way as a net zero powerhouse
Political Groups interventions
EPP — Christian EHLER
In 2020, the Commission announced the Green Deal. But it had to wait for the US IRA to wake up and decide to put forward a real industrial strategy. Fit for 55 is not enough.
The EPP ask the Commission to leave ideology and prescriptions behind. What the industry needs is technology neutrality.
M. Weber regretted that productivity is not mentioned once in the Commission’s communications.
S&D — Iratxe GARCÍA PÉREZ
The subsidy race has begun, with the US and China as the frontrunners. The Americans want to advance green investments but Europe is lagging behind. She regretted that there is no social media or technological heavyweight company in Europe.
The current GDIP is not ambitious enough for workers’ rights. The state aid model allows for the rollout of strategic projects. The subsidy race should not be the occasion for inter-EU competition.
Renew Europe — Stéphane SÉJOURNÉ
He regretted that Europe remains hesitating while its competitors are taking bold steps. The Union needs a clear path and response. Europe’s economic rivals must respect European socio-economic and environmental standards.
The Economy needs more Europe, Staite aid, a sovereignty fund, and an overall energy market.
The Green Deal must be preserved as the US is now joining Europe in fighting climate change and heavily investing in green technologies too.
He called for all delegations to approve the GDIP
Greens/EFA — Bas EICKHOUT
Europe does not have a competitiveness problem or a red tape problem. It has a problem of fragmentation. This is why the GDIP is a good start. But it needs to provide clarity on private funding.
ID — Marco ZANNI
The Commission’s plan has two faults:
It wants to do just like the USA, without having the same tools and objectives.
The Commission wants to go back to planned economic systems that proved their failures in the past.
Furthermore, the Commission wants to tell the free market how it should behave. It will not work.
ECR — Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI
The Commission should not make an industrial strategy for the economy it dreams for 2023, but for the one, we have at the moment.
The Comùmission did not take into account that the war in Ukraine will last for years. As Europe send tanks to Ukraine, it should develop a strategy for the steel industry.
The Left — Martin SCHIRDEWAN
With the IRA, the Biden administration put America first. This is aggressive dumping. Europe needs a radical rethinking of its industrial policy, and the GDIP is none.