Skip to main content

EU plans incentives for EV.

 

EU plans incentives for EV.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday that Brussels would temporarily water down state aid regulations and pump cash into strategic climate-friendly businesses, as it sought to counter Biden’s $369bn subsidy package. «To keep European industry attractive, there is a need to be competitive with offers and incentives currently available outside the European Union,» von der Leyen said. BlackRock’s Larry Fink described the act as a «transformational bill» enabling «additional factories» powered by green energy on US soil. Biden’s new legislation offers tax breaks to US-based green technology groups. It has sparked concerns in the EU that it will lure European companies across the Atlantic, compounding fears over the impact of higher energy prices on Europe’s competitiveness.

Von der Leyen played down the rivalry with the US, stressing that the two blocs were investing almost €1tn in clean energy. However, Ulf Kristersson, Swedish prime minister, said in Strasbourg that low productivity, insufficient spending in research and high energy prices «pose greater risks to European competitiveness than a lack of subsidies to production».

www.sba.tax

Comments

  1. Insufficient spending in research is a big problem for all EU. They should and must give more funds to research and development - this is how the companies discover improvements and this is how we better our lives as a whole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, many countries don't give this area its due importance and that is a mistake. We need to constantly invest in innovation.

      Delete
  2. I agree that high energy prices can lead to some companies leaving for the US. This is a real danger and all EU countries must address it right away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the EU and every government should work to reduce energy prices and increase productivity so the US subsidy package isn't as appealing anymore.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Cloud Bookkeeping

US FED rate rise.

  The US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they plan to resume increasing interest rates to control inflation in the world's biggest economy. During the June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reached a consensus to keep interest rates stable for the time being to evaluate whether further tightening of policy would be necessary. However, the majority of the committee anticipates that additional rate increases will be required in the future. The minutes of the meeting have recently been made public. According to the minutes, most participants believed maintaining the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent was appropriate or acceptable, despite some individuals wanting to raise the acceleration due to slow progress in cooling inflation. Although Fed forecasts predicted a mild recession starting later in the year, policymakers faced challenges in interpreting data that showed a tight job market and only slight improvements in inflation. Additionally, officials gr...

EU business slide.

  S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of business conditions for the manufacturing and services sector, fell 1 point to 47.1, figures showed yesterday. That is its lowest level since November 2020 and the fourth consecutive month below the crucial 50 mark separating growth from contraction. One of the few bright spots in the survey was that companies in all sectors reported a slight easing of cost pressures, price growth and supply chain constraints. However, prices charged for goods and services still rose at the sixth fastest rate since such data started in 2002. Jobs growth increased marginally from October but remained low compared with the past 18 months. Following a few months of falling price pressure in manufacturing and services, the October print shows an overall stabilisation said Jens Eisenschmidt, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley. However, German businesses, at the hub of Europe’s energy crisis, reported that manu...

Tariffs on UK electric cars.

  The European Commission has confirmed that it will continue with its plan to impose tariffs on electric cars exported between the UK and EU starting next year. This is due to the "rules of origin" requirement that mandates EVs traded across the English Channel to have 60% of their battery and 45% of their parts sourced from the EU or UK or face a 10% tariff. A senior Commission official, Richard Szostak, recently informed parliamentarians from the UK and EU that the bloc's battery investment has significantly declined, making the tariffs necessary to encourage domestic production. In 2022, the EU's share of global investment in battery production shrank from 41% to only 2% after the US offered substantial subsidies through its Inflation Reduction Act. Starting in 2024, car manufacturers in the UK will need to have 22% of their sales come from zero-emission vehicles, which means they may need to import EVs from the continent to meet this requirement. If EU carmakers ...