In this edition, we digest the major announcement from the Commission this week to scale back on red tape and environmental legislation and we take the temperature of the European economy
Our guests this week are Varg Folkman, from the European Policy Centre (EPC), Maria João Rodrigues, President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and Connor Allen, a corporate lobbyist.
The panel start by taking at the EU’s troubled automotive industry. The sector hires over 13 million people and makes up 7% of EU GDP. But competition from China – where electric vehicles are priced at the same as petrol fuelled cars – are causing a serious headache. The Audi plant in Brussels is due to close at the end of February 2025.
“We need a reality check for the way decarbonisation is set up”, the director the automotive group ACEA Sigrid de Vries said this week adding that things were more simple in the US and China.
Varg Folkman believes that it’s starting to be too late: “We have to face that we have been outcompeted by the Chinese. They are cheaper but also more technologically advanced.”
The panel also discussed the real economy and the concept of ‘greedflation’ where companies are exploiting inflation to justify price hikes.
“We are all broke. We are taxing people into poverty”, Connor Allen said.
Maria João Rodrigues took a more positive note saying “innovation provides better products and services to make our life more sustainable. Here, Europe can take the competitive lead of the world”.
Watch ‘Brussels, my love?’ in the player above.
