Do we want industry in Europe?

A file photo shows a steel mill in Duisburg, Germany. The authors argue that the EU should do more to support European industry with programs similar to those in place in the US. [AP]

Before I rush to answer in the affirmative, as is often the case with important news, here are two important pieces of news that received little attention last week.

One is good news. The European Union will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion by 8% by 2023, reaching their lowest level in 60 years.

Despite the EU’s leading efforts and best efforts to address the climate crisis, the continent remains at the center of it, along with the entire Mediterranean, and it continues to pay a very high price. To address the climate crisis, it is not enough to reduce pollutants emitted in Europe. All countries in the world need to reduce the pollutants they emit.

However, while the European Commission is aggressive towards member states, it is tolerant towards other countries. Unsurprisingly, they impose strict carbon emission reduction policies on their own industries, raising production costs and reducing the competitiveness of European products, while creating unfairness with third-country industries that produce cheaply. Among other things, it is free to pollute the atmosphere by sitting on the sidelines. At the very least, it could impose tariffs on imports of such products. it’s not.

The second piece of news comes from a rare interview in the Financial Times with Jean-François van Bocksmeer, chairman of Vodafone Group and head of the European Industry Roundtable lobby group. Companies participate. The topic was funding from the NextGeneration EU Recovery Fund, but Van Boxmeer said the funds would not be absorbed within the set deadlines as European bureaucracy posed an insurmountable obstacle. Probably not.

If the industrial base of the European economy is destroyed, the damage to Europe will not be temporary or reversible.

In some ways, it is to our advantage that almost all European countries have been slow to absorb funds. Greece will have some chance of absorbing the funds allocated to us only if other countries do not catch up and decide to relax the schedule. (32 billion euros).

Otherwise, you will miss the deadline and will have to return it.

However, the big issue that we need to pay attention to is Europe’s image and the treatment of European industry by the authorities.

This comes at a time when U.S. President Joe Biden’s corresponding aid program is in full swing, providing abundant and quick funding to revive the industrial base of the U.S. economy, and nearly all of the European giants’ large and cutting-edge investments. (and similar efforts are underway in China), Europe has stalled and risks suffering unwanted damage.

Because if the industrial base of the European economy is destroyed, the damage to Europe will not be temporary and will not recover within the next 10 years. Of course, it’s not just about money.

It is natural to ask, then, do we want industry in Europe?