On Wednesday, ten European Union countries called for reform of the bloc’s single market to make them more competitive with the United States and China in the clean energy sector.
The appeal came from the prime ministers of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia in a letter to the European Commission that could propose new laws for the EU.
“Political attention has focused on short-term measures in light of rising energy prices and increasingly fierce global competition in the cleantech sector,” the leaders of the 10 countries said in the letter, seen by Reuters.
“What the EU needs now is a long-term competitiveness strategy to keep pace with our main global competitors in terms of economic output and productivity,” they added. They asked to discuss the issue at the next EU summit on 23 and 24 March.
They said that the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US inflationary law have highlighted the problem of European competitiveness.
“Europe needs a long-term strategy to increase competitiveness and productivity that complements the Commission’s recent Industrial Green Deal Scheme initiative,” the letter states.
The letter stated that Europe’s single market needed reform, noting that the services sector in the bloc, which contributes over two-thirds of Europe’s GDP, is of major importance along with ‘clean tech’ industry, such as manufacturing batteries or hydrogen systems.
Leaders said the focus should be on boosting productivity and growth.
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