Economic situation and consequences of war: Once again, the deliberations of EU heads of state and government, which begin on Thursday, will revolve around these questions. The EU summit in March is traditionally devoted to economics – but that, like everything else, has long had its axis in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Furthermore, this is Europe’s response to the US anti-inflation program, which, with enormous effort and many temptations, is suited to steal global corporations from Europe. EU Council President Charles Michel recently warned that the EU’s energy trade deficit widened from 1.7% to 4% after the war in Ukraine last year, while the US tripled its surplus.
A week ago, the European Commission presented proposals to reduce Europe’s dependence on China’s raw materials and become more competitive globally. Currently, the EU gets 98% of its rare earth elements and 93% of its magnesium from China. The new “Critical Raw Materials Law” is intended to reduce dependence on imports of raw materials by, among other things, promoting our own mining areas – such as with the lithium deposits in the Styrian-Carinthia border area.
German blockade
A second legislative proposal with the heavy title “Net Zero Industry Act” is intended to speed up the approval process for strategically important value chains, and the Commission also wants to simplify state aid rules. A protectionist approach that is seen quite critically by specialists.
In his letter of invitation to the heads of state and government, Charles Michel talks about “strengthening long-term competitiveness”, investment incentives for greater technological development and the reassessment of trade policy. The full potential of the internal market must be exploited.
The summit will also discuss the “European Semester 2023”, which is the annual cycle of coordination of economic, budgetary, employment and social policies within the EU. This goes hand in hand with preventive and emergency planning for the coming winter: high energy prices, reduced gas demand and ending dependence on Russia are now standard topics at EU summits.
The meeting is overshadowed by the internal dispute over the German blockade of the already decided end of combustion engines in 2035. The political-democratic consequences of the veto itself will also be discussed, since in this case Germany committed a unique breach of the usual procedure based on trust. risky. Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer has already jumped on the bandwagon and is therefore on a confrontational course with Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler.
Italy’s claims
Terry Reintke, co-president of the Greens in the EU Parliament, has already explained that the “spectacle about the end of combustion engines” is becoming more and more absurd: “The FDP is obviously not only indifferent to the fight against climate change, but also its responsibility as a reliable partner in Brussels.” It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain to other Europeans why Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not showing leadership – and that weakens Germany’s position in future negotiations.
On Tuesday, under the pressure of events, it looked like the problem could be resolved before the summit. A proposal – later denied – leaked from the EU Commission, according to which cars with combustion engines would continue to be allowed, as long as they could only be fueled with so-called e-fuels. The condition for this: cars would have to be able to technically recognize when, for example, petrol or diesel has been filled, and then switch off automatically. Apparently, this is still not enough for the German Minister of Transport.
Meanwhile, the dispute has a richer facet, as Italy also presented a new demand. “Italy will not agree with any interpretation by the Commission that ‘carbon neutral’ only refers to electronic fuels and not biofuels,” said a letter to the Commission, which arrived in Brussels shortly before the summit. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni once again managed to make a statement. She also wants to push through reform of the EU’s budget rules and is also pushing another summit topic, migration. According to Meloni, the flag states of the NGO ships operating in the Mediterranean must assume responsibility for the rescued migrants.