“It is time to make business easier in Europe,” Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, told the European Parliament plenary session in a speech Wednesday. “It’s an economic and national security imperative to preserve a European edge on critical and emerging technologies.”
The bloc reviewed its state-aid rules this year to counter massive subsidies provided by the US and China, especially in green technologies. The EU is particularly concerned about China’s economic practices, calling on Beijing to open up its market to rebalance bilateral trade relations. The bloc has also introduced new tools to counter China’s coercive practices targeting its members, including Lithuania.
Von der Leyen called for common European funding to finance the bloc’s industrial strategies. With the EU’s “STEP” program, that will use EU funds for critical projects, the bloc could direct money toward everything from clean tech to quantum computing.Citing China’s recent export controls on gallium and germanium, key for goods like semiconductors and solar panels, she also called on Europe to “step up on economic security.
Von der Leyen said she was open to treaty change if needed, but added that the bloc cannot and should not wait for treaty change to move ahead. “A union fit for enlargement can be achieved faster,” she said.
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