17. 06. 2024
AUTHOR: Linda Kalcher and Neil Makaroff
European Union (EU) leaders are meeting for the first time since the European Parliament elections to discuss EU top jobs and the 2024-2029 priorities, the so-called "Strategic Agenda". The European Council can set the right direction to rebuild a competitive industrial base in Europe, reduce import dependencies while implementing the European Green Deal.
At the same time, Environment Ministers will debate the 90% climate target by 2040 proposed by the European Commission. As Strategic Perspectives’s report, Forging Economic Security and Cohesion in the EU showed, coupled with a European Industrial Strategy, this target can position the EU as a strong industrial powerhouse in the global net-zero race.
Our Executive Director, Linda Kalcher, highlights:
Today, leaders and ministers can draw the line in the sand on attacks on the Green Deal. Calls for rolling back any of the Green Deal laws is economic insanity and will only benefit the thriving clean tech industries in the US and China. Business and investors need a clear sense of direction, no zigzag course. A new 2040 target and commitment to implementation of the Green Deal can provide that predictability and stability.
Our Director, Neil Makaroff, emphasises:
The debate on top jobs is an opportunity to build a new Team Europe, with a strong mandate to reposition the EU in the global race for net-zero industry. The EU won't reindustrialise its economy by overturning the Green Deal, but by implementing it and shaping its industrial phase. At least 20,000 jobs in the planned battery factories in northern France alone depend on it. Planning the next steps of the green transition is the only way for EU leaders and ministers to restore competitiveness and guarantee future jobs for Europeans.
Media contact: Thomas Willems | Brussels