In Antwerp, European industry kicks off fight for its future

A high-level industrial competitiveness declaration attended by EU heavyweights has kicked off a public debate about how far Europe should go in supporting domestic industries, and how green goals and industry can be meshed together.

On 6 June, Europeans will flock to the polling stations to elect a new European Parliament, reshuffling the EU’s executive. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is aiming for a second term, and betting on an industrial competitiveness agenda to make her case.

On Monday (19 February), she announced her bid. A day later, she appeared in Antwerp to meet a coalition of 73 industry leaders.

“Von der Leyen’s visit to Antwerp was clearly an election campaign stop,” said Philipp Jäger, a policy fellow at the Berlin-based think-tank Jacques Delors Centre.

In the ‘Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal’, presented to von der Leyen, CEOs and 15 industry associations said “there is an urgent need for clarity, predictability, and confidence in Europe and its industrial policy”.

In the brewing clash between sustainability advocates and industry leaders who insist on competitiveness, the Antwerp declaration is a stringent 10-point plan that signatories hope will restore European industry to its former glory.

Their primary demand? “Put the Industrial Deal at the core of the new European Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029”.

Much like the Green Deal was the flagship of von der Leyen’s first mandate in the 2019-2024 period, the signing companies – chemicals, construction products, steel – stress the need for a renewed focus on industry.

As a sign of von der Leyen’s commitment, should she win a second term, an “Omnibus proposal to take corrective measures on all relevant existing EU regulation” should be her first piece of legislation, the declaration stated.

Other demands include cheaper energy, by eliminating regulatory charges, European grid integration and “partnerships with resource-rich countries” but also a “new spirit of law-making.” 

According to the signatory CEOs, that means avoiding that “the Green Deal policy targets are followed by prescriptive and detailed implementing regulations” and demanding that entrepreneurs be left to “thrive to find the best solutions to overcome challenges”.

Jäger said: “Industry often complains about overregulation but fails to provide examples of where exactly there is overregulation and inconsistencies.”

Most of all, much like Frans Timmermans was charged with implementing the Green Deal, his successor as the second-in-command in the Commission should be responsible for “the delivery of the European Industrial Deal,” the Antwerp declaration stressed.

The search for a new consensus

Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has been the driving force behind the Antwerp meeting – alongside chemical industry Association Cefic – and has been at the forefront of calls for a European Industrial Deal.

His country’s chemical cluster, tied to the port of Antwerp, is in bad shape: Energy prices are high, demand for chemical products low. One in three production lines is not running, much less than is usual.

Being sandwiched between France and Germany – the EU’s biggest countries with much deeper pockets than Belgium – does not help the situation.

“Europe is at the cusp of a clash between big industrial subsidy spenders like France and Germany and the smaller countries who simply can’t afford to match them,” explained Domien Vangenechten, a senior policy advisor at the climate think-tank E3G.

The Danes similarly told Euractiv in Berlin that loosened state aid rules must go. 

This means that Europe is in the throes of finding a new consensus on balancing support for industry, sustainability, and competitiveness. 

“Can sustainability and climate targets be reconciled with competitiveness, or do we need to cut back on the Green Deal in order to reduce the burden on companies?” asked Jäger. 

The Antwerp declaration “was very much focused on competitiveness,” he added.

Green groups know what side of the argument they stand on. 

“Europe’s climate targets and long-term industrial competitiveness are not just compatible, they are complementary,” said Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation, which allocates billions of dollars to supporting the European climate agenda.

Tubiana, who acts as sort of “strategist-in-chief” for an entire ecosystem of European think tanks and NGOs, stressed that “done right, a pan-European Industrial Deal, properly integrated with the historic Green Deal”, could accelerate the green transition, competitiveness and cohesion – allowing poorer regions to catch up. 

With von der Leyen’s bid for the presidency announced, EU electioneering can get into full swing. And so can the fight for which direction Europe’s industrial strategy is headed.

“The debate about how to boost Europe’s industrial competitiveness in the context of the global clean energy race is important and should play a key role in the EU election campaign,” said Vangenechten.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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