Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech the moves would be part of the EU's Green Deal industrial plan to make Europe the home of clean technology and industrial innovation on the road to net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
The EU is concerned that European companies will move to the United States, which has a $369 billion scheme to subsidise green production. The EU will therefore provide money for its industry as well, von der Leyen said. "This is why we will propose to temporarily adapt our state aid rules to speed-up and simplify. Easier calculations. Simpler procedures. Accelerated approvals. For example, with simple tax-break models. And with targeted aid for production facilities in strategic clean tech value chains, to counter relocation risks from foreign subsidies," she said.
"To avoid a fragmenting effect on the single market and to support the clean tech transition across the whole Union we must also step up EU funding. For the medium term, we will prepare a European Sovereignty Fund as part of the mid-term review of our budget later this year," von der Leyen said.