In the fifty-eighth episode of EU to go, Thu Nguyen and Philipp Jäger discuss the state of European industry – and whether the European Commission's new proposal, the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), actually provides solutions to its profound challenges.
Europe's industry is under massive pressure: high energy prices, increasingly fragmented global trade, and the “second China shock” are hitting sectors such as automotive, chemicals, steel, and mechanical engineering particularly hard. Jobs are being lost, investments are drying up, and at the same time, political demands to reconcile competitiveness with climate protection are growing.
The IAA is intended to address this: by accelerating planning, introducing new “Buy European” and “low-carbon” clauses, and imposing stricter conditions on foreign investment. But how significant is the actual paradigm shift? Which sectors will truly benefit, and where will the impact be limited? And how does all of this fit into the current debates on reducing bureaucracy and the future of the EU Emissions Trading System?
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