Much of Europe has de-industrialised over the last 30-40 years. Which is good as regards cleaner air and tackling the challenge of industrial injuries, polluted waterways, land and many more problems. But the downside is that Europe makes very little, from scratch. It cannot make virgin steel, grow/harvest food, clothing, shoes or refine oil into a variety of products at scale to meet the demand from its own population. In effect it has outsourced mass manufacturing to China, India and other low cost nations. Trading market access for some sort of partner status is a good fix, for now. But the longer term challenges remain stubbornly in place; making things has become too difficult, too expensive.
Here’s the word from the VDMA;
Commenting on the discussions in the European Parliament’s committees regarding the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann says:
- “The Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) must not exclude trading partners that grant European companies access to their procurement markets. These are countries with which there are relevant agreements, for example in EU free trade agreements.”
- “The stricter provisions currently under discussion in the draft report by the rapporteurs in the European Parliament go far beyond what is necessary. This would turn the European Commission’s pragmatic and fundamentally balanced approach on its head and place a burden on industrial supply chains and trade relations.”
- “The additional conditions in the draft report regarding the equal treatment of trading partners go beyond the principle of reciprocity. Criteria such as compliance with the ILO’s core labour standards are not directly related to trade, market access or reciprocity.”
- “The tightening of requirements regarding the EU origin of components and green steel also increases costs for companies and jeopardises the availability of essential components. This would hit precisely those sectors that the IAA aims to support.”
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