The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented this Wednesday to MEPs in Strasbourg the results of her trip to the United States, where she spoke with President Joe Biden about programs to encourage investment in green technology -in In in the US, the Inflation Reduction Act and in the EU, the Green Pact. Von der Leyen affirms that the two economies are now more aligned and many of the differences are outdated, but he understands that there is a lot of work to be done in the community space, so that the European Union is more competitive in what is seen as the industry of the future.
The president of the Commission believes that investment in technologies with climate impact should be accelerated and says that the trip to the US allowed progress in political discussions, so that European companies remain at the forefront of clean technologies. “President Biden and I confirm an understanding on electric cars, which allows European automakers to have access to US tax breaks,” Ursula von der Leyen said.
The President of the Commission highlights the importance of the joint work of the two largest economic areas in the world, to guarantee relevance in an industry of millions. “Global investment in the clean transition exceeded one billion dollars last year, 30% more than the previous year,” Von der Leyen highlighted, stressing that “this global market for clean technologies should triple by 2030.”
In other words: the race is on. [e] we must act together if we want to be at the forefront”, said the head of the community executive, admitting, however, that there is still a lot of work to be done on the European side.
“We Europeans have to improve the development of our own clean technology industry, we have to streamline and simplify procedures and we have to guarantee better access to public and private financing,” he defended.
Von der Leyen also reported that he began “discussions on a critical raw materials agreement” with Joe Biden, with the aim of “ensuring that critical raw materials for electric vehicle batteries, extracted or processed in the EU, are treated in the same way as in the same way as if they came from the US”.
The president of the European Commission believes that “this will ensure strong battery supply chains in Europe and secure access to the US market.”
“We must nurture our own cleantech industrial base, both to create new jobs here in Europe and to ensure access to the clean solutions we so desperately need,” he stressed.
Source: TSF
