A coalition of European regions, manufacturers and trade unions met in Brussels on 30 June to push for tougher local-content rules in the EU's forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act. The event, convened by the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the Spanish region of Navarra, Enercluster and the European Solar Manufacturing Council, brought together regional governments, MEPs from across the political spectrum, trade unions and manufacturers spanning solar, wind and battery storage.
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Regions from five member states took part, including Saxony-Anhalt, Navarra, Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Normandie, Upper Austria and Emilia-Romagna, alongside members of the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the trade unions IndustriAll and IG Metall. On the industry side, Holosolis and InnoEnergy spoke to solar and storage, TESVOLT to storage, Sakana and Laulagun Bearings to wind, and SwiftSolar to solar cells and production equipment.
Closing the loopholes
The group's core demand is that "Made in Europe" should mean manufacturing actually located in Europe, not a label diluted to cover any trading partner. The discussion paper that emerged calls for local-content requirements to work as a mandatory qualifying criterion rather than an easily discounted bonus point, for thresholds to apply per technology so requirements can't be concentrated on one sector while others are exempted, and for the rules to cover strategically important core components rather than a single locally sourced part attached to an otherwise imported product.
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Thomas Wünsch, State Secretary at Saxony-Anhalt's energy ministry, pointed to recent history as the reason for pushing so hard on the detail: "Previous experiences with the bankruptcy of Meyer Burger and other solar companies have shown just how intense the competition is, especially with Asian suppliers. It is necessary to learn from the past and create an EU framework that enables existing and future companies in the wind, solar and energy storage sectors to operate successfully."
Jobs on the line
Navarra's Minister for Economic Development, Mikel Irujo, said the region has pursued a consistent industrial policy in favour of European value creation for years, backed by a large number of local companies, and voiced concern that jobs built on that policy are now at risk from what he described as unfair competition from dominant suppliers elsewhere.
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The alliance is now open to further regions, industrial clusters, companies and social partners across the EU, with scope to extend the paper's coverage to additional technologies, including grid components, as more contributors join. (TF)
