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Ursula Von Der Leyen Says EU Must Support Cleantech To Compete With US

By  |  January 16, 2023

The European Union needs financing tools to help its clean tech compete against US rivals that are set to benefit from government support under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the head of the European Commission said on Friday.

Ursula von der Leyen stopped short of calling for new joint EU debt issuance at a news conference in the northern Swedish town of Kiruna, noting that 37% of the EU’s existing 800 billion euro recovery fund was earmarked for climate change-related investment.

Related: Shaping Europe’s Digital Future: Op-ed by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

European countries broadly welcome Washington’s commitment to the green transition, but fear the IRA will unfairly disadvantage their companies because many of the subsidies only go to products, such as electric cars, that are built in North America.The Commission is planning to loosen state aid rules, but some EU countries can spend more than others. Von der Leyen said the bloc needed “credible and ambitious” financing tools to preserve the single market.