Dear friends,
On Thursday, 29.9.2022, I presented on behalf of Germany at the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels an industrial policy initiative to strengthen strategic technology sectors for transformation. The Platform for Transformational Technologies is intended to create an alliance between politics, industry and research. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton as well as numerous member states have reacted positively to the initiative. Breton has now also announced in writing that he will take swift action accordingly.
Please help spread this good news and share my tweet here: https://twitter.com/sven_giegold/status/1577238964867461121 (in German)
The aim and the unique feature of the initiative is to develop and promote the EU’s industrial production capacities in five strategically important technologies. These are the five key transformational technologies (1) wind energy (2) photovoltaics, (3) electrolysers, (4) electricity grids and cables, and (5) heat pumps – large and small. To build an industrial value, the full European potential should be used from the outset. The EU’s industrial production capacities are to be increased in order to be able to meet the growing demand for transformational technologies more strongly from domestic European ä production. Especially in strategic technology fields that are central to the European Green Deal, there is a very high dependence on Asian competitors. The EU Green Deal must also lead to more investment in the future of European industry.
Following the successful example of the European Battery Alliance, the initiative should build up new European production capacities, locate them in the EU and expand them. For photovoltaics, the EU Commission had already announced corresponding initiatives within the framework of REpowerEU, but not for the other important technologies.
The plan is to develop a roadmap, establish a political high-level group of member states and bring industry players together. In this way, a top European supply for innovative climate and transformation technologies is to be secured in the long term.
I am very pleased that many Member States, including France, Romania, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Ireland, Slovenia and Greece, as well as Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton, strongly welcomed the proposal (Thierry Breton’s response here). Now it’s time to move on to implementation!
Please, help spread this good news and share my tweet here: https://twitter.com/sven_giegold/status/1577238964867461121 (in German)
As the German Federal Ministry of Economics, we continue to drive forward the necessary transformation of the European economy. This proposal is active European industrial policy. With technology from European producers and research institutions, we strengthen the industrial location, become less dependent on imports from non-EU countries and thus secure and, not least, create jobs in Europe.
With European greetings,
Sven Giegold
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Link to the background paper:
Video of the discussion in the Council, which is worth watching (see below “Transformation technologies”‘): https://video.consilium.europa.eu/event/en/26048
Response from EU Commissioner Thierry Breton: https://sven-giegold.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/letter_breton_tranformationstechnologien.pdf