"One day
after announcing their top candidacy, managers of chemical and other
energy-intensive companies are presenting a ten-point plan for their second
term in office: They are calling for a new EU fund for energy-intensive
industries, fewer requirements and a strategy for competitive energy prices.
When announcing
her top candidate for the European elections on Monday, EU Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen promised to reinvent herself. The EU's competitiveness and
an industrial agenda should play a central role in her second term in office.
On Tuesday in
Antwerp, 57 company bosses and 16 representatives of industrial associations
and unions presented a ten-point plan with demands for a European industrial
pact ("Industrial Deal"), with which the next Commission should
supplement the Green Deal.
The focus is on
deregulation, a strong focus on entrepreneurial initiative and more government
aid, including a new fund for the rollout of clean technologies in
energy-intensive industries ("Clean Tech Deployment Fund").
A new “First Vice
President for the Industrial Deal” should oversee this in the Commission. “We
need our industry and its innovations to be able to withstand climate change,”
said Belgian Prime Minister and incumbent EU Council President Alexander De
Croo.
He called the
industrial summit in Antwerp, where the ten-point plan was published. "But
it is not enough for Europe to be a continent of industrial innovation, it must
also be a continent of industrial production," he added.
The climate
targets pose major challenges for the industry, at a time when corporations and
medium-sized businesses are facing a severe downturn, the paper says.
This is
exacerbated by overcapacity in China and billions in government aid from the
USA. “Sites are being closed, production is stopped, employees are being laid
off, Europe needs a business case,” warn the signatories. Without a targeted
industrial policy, Europe runs the risk of becoming dependent on third parties
for basic products and chemicals.
The signatories
of the declaration do not go so far as to call for a break in regulation. The
next commission's first official act should be to present a legislative package
that eliminates contradictory rules and excessive reporting requirements.
Furthermore, the
Commission should be guided by a “new spirit” in its legislation, which relies
on free enterprise instead of detailed government requirements to achieve the
climate goals of the Green Deal. They call for a better assessment of the
consequences of new EU laws based on solid scientific data.
The Commission
should also further “simplify” state aid law. This should allow member states
to grant more subsidies. These funds from the states and the new EU fund, the
amount of which is left open in the paper, are intended to support not only the
construction of new factories, but also the operational costs of
energy-intensive industries such as chemicals, steel or cement.
The approval
process should also be further accelerated. The structural aid from the EU
budget and the remaining money from the Corona fund should flow into the
expansion of the infrastructure for energy and technologies such as the
capture, use or storage of carbon (CCUS).
In order to
reduce energy costs, which are "simply too high to be competitive",
the signatories call for a "real EU energy strategy". This is
intended to facilitate cross-border electricity trading and promote the
expansion of networks for hydrogen and other “green molecules”.
In addition to
renewable sources, the paper also identifies nuclear energy as a priority.
Representatives of energy-intensive companies and industries signed, but not
the European industry association Business Europe. These include the head of
BASF, Martin Brudermüller, as well as board members from Evonik, Bayer,
Covestro, Lanxess, Heidelberg Materials and Wienerberger. Top managers of
energy companies Exxon Mobil and Shell also signed the declaration. On the
union side, the chairman of the IG BCE and the EU chemicals union, Michael
Vassiliadis, signed." [1]
Great
thinking. It will not work though. To build the infrastructure
necessary you need a long time and a lot of cheap dirty gas that the USA,
China and Russia have.
We, the European Union, don't have money to buy this gas from anywhere,
except cheap from Russia (two times less expensive). Nobody in the world will buy our stuff and services produced with two times more expensive energy. Von der Leyen wants to take Ukraine from Russia into the orbit of Germany.
Russians in Ukraine don't like this idea and resist. Russia has to help
them. Von der Leyen is set to push sanctions on Russia by cutting off
cheap Russian energy from EU.
Von der Leyen's idea: Ukraine - first, green energy transition - second,
doesn't work. To save our home, the European Union, we need to change the European Union's political leadership.
1.
Unternehmenschefs fordern europäischen Industriepakt: Von der Leyen soll
in ihrer zweiten Amtszeit einen Fonds für energieintensive Branchen
vorlegen. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online)Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung GmbH. Feb 20, 2024 Von Hendrik Kafsack
