The European Commission is due to present the Clean Industrial Deal later this month, a strategy that seeks to balance decarbonization objectives and the competitiveness growth of European industry. The EC aims to achieve this, among other things, by lowering energy costs, developing green technologies, and improving raw material independence. Roman Przybylski from Grupa Kęty emphasizes the necessity of a more pragmatic approach, suggesting that climate policies should be better adjusted to economic realities in order not to weaken the competitiveness of European companies.
“The European industry needs an Industrial Deal, regardless of whether it’s Clean or Green,” he said. Nearly €1 trillion has been invested in the European Union for the green transition, making it difficult to reverse this process. Przybylski advocates for a balance between green and ecological ideas and competitiveness in order to start building and defending the latter in Europe.
Increasing the competitiveness of the EU economy, which has been losing the global race with the US and China, is a priority for the new European Commission. Last year, the Commission presented its first initiative to revive the EU economy, the “Competitiveness Compass for the EU”.
This February, the Commission will introduce a new initiative, the Clean Industrial Deal, which seeks to support businesses in achieving climate neutrality without weakening their global market position. This will be accomplished by reducing costs, ensuring affordable energy, developing green technologies, improving raw material independence, and promoting a closed-loop economy.
“There’s no need to ease our climate policy, but we need to conduct it in a more pragmatic way,” says Przybylski. He suggests the use of simple market mechanisms as opposed to those which dampen the competitive position of companies or countries trying to fight against climate change.
Przybylski argues that climate policy tools must be adjusted to economic realities, and that the issue is not the goal but the method of its implementation. The current solutions are costly, complex, and burden European enterprises more than their foreign competitors, which could lead to production being moved to countries with lower environmental standards.
The need for action to improve the competitiveness of the European economy is urgent. According to a recent report by Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, the EU is losing the global race to the US and China. The report cites the EU’s lack of innovative output compared to the US and China, particularly in advanced technologies like AI, and high energy costs that burden European firms more than their Trans-Atlantic counterparts.
Przybylski supports the development of a large, single European market and the establishment of a “level playing field” where all businesses operate under the same rules. If European companies are held to certain standards, whether they be ecological or social, the same should be expected from companies importing from outside Europe.
