Von der Leyen requires EU to ‘adapt’ state-aid guidelines in reply to US inexperienced subsidy scheme

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned right this moment the EU ought to adapt its state-aid guidelines in response to the United States’ large subsidy package deal for inexperienced power.

Von der Leyen mentioned the EU must act to keep away from investments being drawn throughout the Atlantic by U.S. President Joe Biden’s $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is able to provide assist to sustainable industries in America, particularly electrical automobiles.

“The Inflation Reduction Act should make us reflect on how we can improve our state-aid frameworks, and adapt them to a new global environment,” von der Leyen mentioned in a speech in Bruges, Belgium. “The new assertive industrial policy of our competitors requires a structural answer.”

The IRA program has divided opinions in Brussels, with Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton pushing for a extra assertive EU industrial coverage in response, whereas the bloc’s competitors chief, Margrethe Vestager, has warned in opposition to a “tit-for-tat” response.

Some reply to the U.S.’s initiative is important, von der Leyen mentioned.

“We need to do our homework in Europe and at the same time work with the U.S. to mitigate competitive disadvantages,” the Commission president mentioned.

Commission officers have been attempting to influence the U.S. administration to regulate the IRA package deal in order that EU corporations may also be eligible for the American help. Their subsequent probability comes on Monday when the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council meets.