04. 03. 2026
AUTHOR: Strategic Perspectives
After months of internal disputes, the European Commission today unveiled the long-overdue Industrial Accelerator Act, a legislative pivot designed to stimulate demand for European-made clean technologies and counter industrial subsidies and competition from the United States and China. The Act introduces binding “local-content” benchmarks for public tenders and other support mechanisms, such as bonuses for electric vehicles or building renovation schemes, effectively prioritising companies that manufacture within the EU. By mandating that public spending favour low-emission products made in Europe, the Commission aims to create a guaranteed lead market for strategic sectors like wind, aluminium, and battery production.
The move marks a departure from a price-only approach, shifting European industrial policy toward an “economic security” model. The regulation seeks to reverse years of declining domestic market share by insulating local manufacturers from overseas price-dumping while accelerating the bloc’s decarbonisation targets.
Director Neil Makaroff analysed: “With its first ‘Made-in-Europe’ policy, the EU is embracing long-overdue economic realism and adapting itself to the new brutal global trade reality. Rather than letting the single market be an open outlet for Chinese overcapacities, each euro of taxpayer money can be directed to rebuild Europe’s manufacturing base. This is how Europeans can start learning the language of industrial powers.”
Industry Analyst Tristan Beucler commented: “Trying to compete with China without using taxpayer money strategically is like fighting a wildfire with a garden hose. With its Industrial Accelerator Act, the EU shows its willingness to support its most strategic sectors in regaining competitiveness, decarbonising their processes, and maintaining manufacturing in the EU. By implementing a Made-in-Europe policy, the EU can fund resilient value chains and secure manufacturing jobs rather than subsidise cheap overcapacity.”
On the next steps, Neil Makaroff adds: “Now the text is out, the real debate begins: how to concretely implement a Made-in-Europe policy that gives predictability and security to industrial players that want to invest in Europe. Having a European preference “à la carte”, leaving every single public authority to decide whether they apply it or not, risks fragmenting the single market and being counterproductive.”
Tristan Beucler confirms: “This proposal sends an important message: the EU is ready to use industrial policy to support its most strategic sectors to decarbonise and produce in Europe. Now, it is crucial that the debates in the European Parliament and Council strengthen the Industrial Accelerator Act’s main pillars: low-carbon lead markets, Made-in-Europe criteria for public spending in strategic sectors, and effective conditions for foreign direct investments. Avoiding excessive flexibilities will be key to creating the predictable demand that investors and manufacturers need.”
Media contact: Mirta Baselovic, Communications Officer
Photo credit: European Union. 2025.
