Feb 2 (Reuters) – Europe needs to protect its own industries with a “Made in Europe” strategy, EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne said in a newspaper article published late on Sunday, co-signed by more than 1,100 CEOs and other business leaders.
“Without an ambitious, effective and pragmatic industrial policy, the European economy is doomed to be just a playground for its competitors,” Sejourne said in the article that was published in newspapers across Europe.
“We must establish, once and for all, a genuine European preference in our most strategic sectors,” the French member of the European Commission said.
The article was co-signed by CEOs from a broad range of industries, including steelmakers ArcelorMittal , ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel, drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, tyre makers Continental , Michelin and Pirelli, airline group Air France KLM, and French utility Engie.
Car makers were absent from the list.
Sejourne’s opinion piece comes ahead of the proposed implementation of the Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act later this month, which will likely set requirements to prioritise locally manufactured products.
The proposal is an attempt to boost European industries in the face of cheaper imports from China, but has split EU countries.
Governments including France are championing the idea, but others, including Sweden and the Czech Republic, warn that “buy local” requirements could deter investment, raise prices in government tenders, and hurt the EU’s competitiveness globally.
Sejourne said Europe’s best answer “can be summed up in three words: ‘Made in Europe'”.
“The Chinese have ‘Made in China’, the Americans have ‘Buy American’, and most other economic powers have similar schemes that give preference to their own strategic assets. So why not us?” he said.
“Whenever European public money is used, it must contribute to European production and quality jobs.”
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Julia Payne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Lincoln Feast and Gareth Jones)
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