EU Commission calls for dialogue as European automotive industry faces mounting challenges

euronews (in English)

EU car industry faces high energy costs, EV transition, job losses, and US tariff threats. European Commission seeks solutions to boost innovation amid fierce competition from cheaper Asian manufacturers.

Transcript

00:00High energy prices, cheap competition from the east, the cost of transition to electric

00:11cars, and the redundancies that go with them are hitting the European car sector.

00:18Adding to the uncertainty, the new Trump administration is threatening to impose tariffs.

00:23In this situation, the European Commission has called for a dialogue with the leading

00:27European players in the car industry.

00:31Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said the fundamental question

00:34is, what is still missing to unleash the innovative power of European companies?

00:39We asked one of the participants.

00:42What is missing?

00:45We need to really make sure that Europe as a whole becomes more competitive globally,

00:50so that it's able to compete with China, with the US.

00:55And that indeed means unleashing the innovative capacity that the industry has, but also making

01:01it more affordable and profitable to manufacture in Europe.

01:05So reduce costs of energy, but also of regulation.

01:09Take away permits that take a long time today to secure.

01:14Make sure that there is less regulation that is blocking, but rather help dictate less

01:21and incentivize more.

01:24The European car industry employs 13 million people in more than 250 production units.

01:30Every year, 15 million cars are produced and the sector accounts for 7% of European GDP.

01:36The first consultation will be followed by others, and on the 5th of March, the European

01:41Commission will present an action plan.

01:43We will now have an action plan in a couple of weeks' time, but that's still a plan.

01:47But we need really action, and that we expect now from this action plan to unleash the actual

01:55action and something to be done in Europe to solve the problems that we have.

01:59The question of whether the EU can stick to its commitments to stop producing new cars

02:03and vans with internal combustion engines after 2035 is also unavoidable.

02:09And the tariff on electric cars made in China remains very divisive, as it also affects

02:14European manufacturers.

02:16Moreover, this is not just a technical debate.

02:1827 governments and the European Parliament need to reach a common position.

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