Industry ad EU summit: Make European industrial location competitive

IV President Knill: Addressed the right priorities – avoidance of burdens on domestic industry & tangible acceleration of the process necessary

Vienna (OTS) – On the occasion of today’s discussion of the EU heads of state and government on Europe’s competitiveness and future EU industrial policy, Austrian industry agreed with the proposals presented by the Commission: “With the presented strategy for the long-term competitiveness of Europe, the Commission is addressing key challenges . In order to keep pace with competing world regions, more competitive energy prices, an increase in research and innovation and sufficient skilled workers in Europe are needed,” said Georg Knill, President of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) in the run-up to the EU summit.

Another central topic of the long-term strategy – the avoidance of multiple regulatory burdens for European companies – still requires concrete results: “For an intelligent regulatory system, the European legislator must ensure consistent application of the ever-growing number of tools to limit regulatory costs. The new proposal by Commission President Von der Leyens after a “competitiveness check” must not remain another buzzword without concrete consequences,” said Knill.

Regarding the industrial policy proposals for “Net-zero Industry” and “Critical Raw Materials”, President Knill welcomes the ambitious plans to a large extent: “The plan to accelerate industrial projects is a positive signal, but it is important that it is really for applies to all (!) key areas of the green-digital double transition and more broadly to important investment projects, not least to secure the energy supply”.

Find technology-neutral solutions for future mobility

In view of the ongoing discussion on dealing with internal combustion engines, dealing with the European industrial strength of the automotive industry is of particular relevance in terms of industrial policy. As the Commission also emphasizes in its strategy for long-term competitiveness, this key sector accounts for a third of all private research and development expenditure in the EU. “Despite the political decisions that have already been taken, we hope that the most technology-neutral possible solutions to the decarbonization of our future mobility will be found,” said President Knill.

The Commission’s proposal for the ‘Critical Raw Materials Act’ rightly shows that Europe will have to reduce its dependencies on individual third countries for raw material imports in the future. Here, Europe should “not close itself off to new partners, but rather seize opportunities and reach out to others so as not to fall further behind in relation to others,” concluded Knill. A free trade agreement with Mercosur plays an important role in successfully securing basic raw materials for Europe’s green transition, such as lithium from Chile.