State subsidies will not be enough: to keep or attract strategic industries in Europe, "
it is essential to also mobilize private investment
", insisted on Friday the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
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While Europeans are looking for a solution to the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which grants generous subsidies to strategic industrial sectors established on the territory of the United States, "
there is not a second to lose to put investments on the table
” on the European Union side, he said on BFM Business.
Europeans fear that the national preference granted by Washington will push specialists in batteries, hydrogen or electric cars to set up in the United States rather than on the Old Continent.
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Obtain "concessions" from the Americans
To avoid this disaster scenario, Bruno Le Maire spoke on Friday from the World Economic Forum of two responses to be implemented jointly.
The first consists in obtaining “
exemptions
” and “
concessions
” from the Americans, in other words ensuring that strategic products manufactured in Europe can benefit from the same subsidies as those produced on American soil.
The second solution consists in developing a “
new European industrial policy, with investments in a few limited but absolutely strategic sectors
”.
“
It can be public investment, it can also be private investment.
And it is essential to also mobilize private investment,
” the Minister continued.
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"
From this point of view, achieving the single capital market (in Europe) now becomes an absolute emergency
", hammered the number two of the French government.
The creation of this market, which would facilitate the movement of capital from one Member State to another and could attract more foreign investment, "
is the only way to raise sufficient funds for industrial investors to think that the Europe gives them the funds they need (...) to make their investments on European territory,
”said Bruno Le Maire.
