EU environmental policy hinders industrial development – Federacciai president

A number of signs point to a decline in Europe's economic importance

The EU’s environmental policy is blocking industrial development. This opinion was expressed in an editorial in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio by Antonio Gozzi, president of the Italian steel manufacturers’ association Federacciai.

In his statement, Gozzi called for a thorough review of the ETS system. He stressed that European efforts have failed to bring about a real reduction in global emissions, which have increased by 70% since 1990. While the bloc has seen a significant decline, the United States, China, and India continue to increase their emissions.

This has led to a proposal to restore the ETS market to its origins, limiting it to industrial operators and utilities and excluding financial intermediaries who have turned allowances into instruments of speculation.

The president of Federacciai also touched on the issue of energy: renewable energy sources are necessary but insufficient, and an energy balance will be needed in which gas and next-generation nuclear energy will play a key role.

Gozzi also noted that Europe is currently at a real crossroads. On the one hand, it can continue on the path of the Green Deal, which is characterized by an anti-industrial stance and hyper-regulation. Or it can boldly change course, questioning the ideological framework of Timmermans’ climate policy, which currently punishes industrial investment and triggers an increasingly obvious process of deindustrialization. Gozzi emphasizes that radical changes are not yet visible and that there is a lack of a real sense of urgency.

Among other things, the article states that the EU’s performance over the past twenty years has been dismal. In 2005, Europe’s GDP was virtually equivalent to that of the US, whereas it is now about two-thirds of the latter, most likely due to the Green Deal. Even more significant is the data on GDP per capita, which has fallen from virtually equal levels to less than 60% of that of the US. Added to this is the decline in the number of large European companies in global rankings and an increasingly serious lag in advanced technologies. All these signs point to a gradual decline in Europe’s importance compared to the United States and China.

The president of Federacciai listed the priorities necessary to ensure strategic autonomy and European competitiveness:

• technological neutrality: an energy mix that includes renewable energy sources, gas (with CO2 capture), and new-generation nuclear energy;
• resources and defense: launching mining activities in Europe and strengthening the defense industry;
• market protection – customs barriers against unfair competition from countries that subsidize their own companies and strengthening the «golden power»;
• elimination of European hyper-regulation – revision of regulations such as CBAM, deforestation rules, and sustainable development directives (CSRD/CSDD).

Recall that Petr Popelar, chairman of the board of Moravia Steel, expressed the opinion that European industry needs to reassess the Green Deal and the ETS 1 emissions quota policy.