France is not convinced by the Industrial Accelerator Act. It is the proposed law – the European Commission presented at the beginning of March – which aims to support the manufacturing industry of the Union and increase its competitiveness abroad.
HOW THE INDUSTRIAL ACCELERATOR ACT WORKS
Essentially, the Industrial Accelerator Act wants to stimulate demand for products with a reduced carbon footprint made in the European Union and in some partner countries. To achieve this goal, the law establishes mandatory minimum quotas of European and/or low-carbon content in public procurement concerning certain strategic sectors: electric vehicles, batteries, photovoltaic panels and other clean tech, for example, but also basic materials such as aluminum and concrete.
WHAT FRENCH MINISTER HADDAD SAID
France is perhaps the EU member country that has most promoted the Industrial Accelerator Act: not by chance, the commissioner who worked most on the law – the Industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné – is French. In fact, Paris would have wanted even stricter made in EU content obligations in order to favor local manufacturing.
But the version of the Industrial Accelerator Act presented a few weeks ago did not convince the French government. The Minister for European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad (in the photo), defined the proposal on made in EU as “not sufficient.” “We see a principle of European preference that opens up to many partners, essentially to all those with whom the European Union has free trade agreements. We cannot, while others protect themselves, invent global preference,” Haddad said, as reported by the European Morning Brief. “We need to stop being naive. Americans and Chinese do made in America and made in China. We must not be the last to remain completely open to all winds.”
“We must go further,” he added, “for example by protecting our internal market and our industrial players.”
A DEFINITION OF “EUROPE” TOO BROAD?
France criticizes the Commission’s decision to include too broad a definition of made in EU. For the fulfillment of content obligations, not only the twenty-seven EU member countries will be counted but also Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, as participants in the single market. Moreover, several countries outside the bloc will receive the same treatment, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, considered like-minded partners with whom there are reciprocal trade relations.
According to Paris, however, such an extended interpretation of the concept of made in EU risks failing the primary objective of the Industrial Accelerator Act, namely the reindustrialization of the European Union. On the other hand, the inclusion of trade partners is consistent with the openness values professed by the European Union.
FRANCE AGAINST GERMANY
The opening of made in EU to third countries is the result of German pressure on the European Commission. Berlin feared that a protectionist approach could lead to price increases, as well as prove too burdensome to comply with for the automotive companies, given the international distribution of their supply chains.
