Macron defends countering the US subsidy law with a European equivalent

Leaders will dedicate a summit in February to Americans' response to doping, their companies and migration

BRUSELAS, 16 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has defended this Thursday at the summit of leaders of the European Union (EU) held in Brussels, to counteract the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of the United States with an equivalent measure at the European level that guarantees the competitiveness of European companies along the lines of the "sovereign wealth fund" proposed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

His approach is to create a standard that works as a European reflection of the American one, which includes a package of 369,000 million dollars in subsidies to boost investment in the United States, something that both the Member States and Brussels consider detrimental to the European industry.

Macron's idea is that this "European IRA" accelerates, in the image of its twin on the other side of the Atlantic, the creation of clean energy by European companies through both community and national subsidies.

This "made in Europe" strategy, as pointed out by the French president, would make it possible to curb the harmful effects of US legislation and insist on the "urgency" of accelerating the production of renewable energy and climate technologies that can affect the competitiveness of European soil .

However, Macron understands that the objective of the United States "is not to attack Europe, but to defend its interests", which is why he advocates doubling the normal, something "fundamental" to defend European industry and companies.

"I believe in fair rules accepted by all and for all", stressed the French leader, who stressed that "the IRA is not compatible with the world trade organization", which is why he considers it necessary to establish a community mechanism of guarantees.

In the context of the debate on the response that the European Union should give to the 'doping' of its companies by the United States, the leaders have called on the European Commission to present "at the end of January" an analysis and proposals with a view to mobilizing all relevant national and European instruments and to improve investment conditions, including by simplifying administrative procedures.

The head of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said at the end of the summit this Thursday that the European Union should not lose its "position as world leader in clean technologies", for which she has advocated "adjusting" the framework of Community State aid for a few years to make it "simpler, faster and more predictable".

Within this framework, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has announced that the leaders will return to Brussels on February 9 and 10 to hold an extraordinary summit that will focus on economic issues, including the response to the United States and reflection on the sovereign wealth fund for the European industry, but it will also address in a "deep" way the migratory situation that worries the partners.