The climate package approved in August includes generous subsidies for green technologies, which has caused outrage in Europe and even raised concerns about a trade war.
The European Union must change its state aid rules and consider additional funding for the green transition, says the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The matter was reported, among other things, by the economic newspaper Financial Times (you will switch to another service) and news agency Bloomberg (you will switch to another service).
Von der Leyen’s proposed measures would be a response to the United States’ climate package of hundreds of billions of dollars. The climate package approved in August includes generous subsidies for green technologies, which has caused outrage in Europe and even raised concerns about a trade war. According to critics, the United States is attracting investment away from Europe.
According to Von der Leyen, there is a danger that the US climate package will lead to unfair competition. According to him, the EU should change its rules on state aid in such a way that it becomes easier to make public investments.
– We carefully try to avoid distortions in the EU’s internal market. It is very important. But we also need to be able to respond to the growing global competition in clean technologies, von der Leyen said, according to the Financial Times.
Von der Leyen commented on the issue in his speech in Bruges, Belgium on Sunday.
The climate package is expected to be on the table on Monday, when representatives of the US administration and the EU Commission meet near Washington. The meeting will be attended, among others, by US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.