France and Germany vow resolute EU industry policy in response to new U.S. administration
Clean Energy Wire
French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz have vowed to uphold close Franco-German cooperation to ensure European sovereignty in key industrial areas as the new U.S. administration under president Donald Trump has set out on a confrontational course towards the EU. “After a new government has been sworn in in the United States of America, it is ever more important that the Franco-German tandem completely fulfils its role for a consolidated Europe,” Macron said during a visit of the German chancellor to France’s capital Paris on the anniversary of the two countries' 1963 Élisée Treaty for close cooperation.
The French president said that while cultivating good transatlantic relations remained an important aspect for Europe, “the priority of Europeans today should be Europe” to strengthen competitiveness, prosperity and security as well as defending its values and political institutions. Referring to a strategy paper on EU competitiveness penned by former Italian European Central Bank head Mario Draghi in 2024, Macron said the EU needs to make sure it does not fall behind.
“We need to support certain critical sectors, including the automotive industry, the steel industry, the chemicals industry, and urgently need to free up investments for them”. The EU would need to ramp up spending on energy, defence, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, space travel, and other areas, the French leader argued, warning against an international environment that is becoming “more brutal and disinhibited.” Macron said European defence, including the support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, would have to be rethought and revalued, adding that this would be a key aspect at several meetings within the EU and beyond in the coming months.
Germany's chancellor Scholz said the increasing popularity of far-right politicians in the Western world pose a danger to Europe by focusing on differences and undermining unity. “Now we have to deal with a new U.S. administration. It’s already clear that president Trump will be a challenge,” Scholz argued. The chancellor stressed the “long history of friendship and partnership” between Europe and the U.S. and said European partners would now closely examine the raft of decisions Trump made since taking office at the beginning of the week, many of which directly target Europe.
“Our position is clear,” Scholz said: “Europe will not duck away and hide but stay a constructive and self-confident partner.” Franco-German cooperation would remain a cornerstone in this regard, he added. Scholz said he and the French president agreed on several measures that should be immediately decided in the EU: Abolishing fines for carmakers that invest in e-mobility but currently struggle to sell enough vehicles to leave them more funds for further developing the technology; protecting steel production in Europe to strengthen competitiveness and security; and reducing bureaucracy for companies by delaying the next step in Europe’s sustainability reporting schedule by two years.
The European Commission is set to present a strategy to strengthen the EU's industrial competitiveness and help it decarbonise, the Clean Industrial Deal, by late February. The return of Trump to the White House was followed by a wide range of executive orders that the president signed on its first day in office. They included a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, a commitment to expanding fossil fuel extraction, and a temporary halt to new wind power development. Amongst other things, the rightwing populist president also threatened to impose heavy tariffs on Europe, a close ally in trading and security policy, unless the region buys more fossil fuels from the U.S., a measure that has been met with loud criticism from across Europe.
