This week, the PES Financial and Economic Network (FEN) convened in Brussels and online to discuss developments concerning the Clean Industrial Deal, US Tariffs and the EU’s response, financing for defence, the Omnibus I package, and the next EU long-term Budget.
FEPS President Maria João Rodrigues, and chair of the meeting, said:
”Today’s discussion touches on many crucial issues. At the heart of it must be to strengthen our ‘Made in Europe’ industry, with strong proposals to support its decarbonisation, enhancing its competitiveness — starting with the automotive sector.
We also addressed EU economic external relations and our red lines. We must work with the United States to find fair solutions to restore mutually beneficial exchanges, but without compromising our key legislation. We must reshape the transatlantic agenda to defend our values and interests, including safeguarding our industrial base from the imposition of unfair barriers.
Simplification is welcome as a way to reach our targets in this exercise, but not by deregulating at the expense of people and the planet. All these new priorities, including those linked to strengthening our security and defence, must be reflected in an ambitious long-term budget that responds to the complexity of today’s reality’’.
The FEN explored the economic consequences of the current geopolitical developments that have put us in a position where we must now face reality and improve our security and defence. The point was addressed with Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Chair Aurore Lalucq. Our financial approach must reflect new global realities, for both our security and our sovereignty. Members agreed that to strengthen European defence, we must assess the feasibility and added value of different instruments, including the potential of innovative ones and developing a European financial instrument to boost investment and capabilities in security and defence through common European debt.
The network then discussed unfair and disproportionate tariffs initiated by US President Trump with Brando Benifei, MEP, Chair of the Delegation for relations with the US and S&D Committee on International Trade Coordinator. The EU must defend its interests and values. Key EU legislations such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the Green Deal must not be compromised. It is imperative that the EU continues to seek fair, sustainable trade relations without relinquishing core legislation.
Legislation is a means to achieve our common objectives, not an obstacle to them. It should provide predictability, consistency, and a secure environment for investment. Well-designed regulation is what protects workers, safeguards privacy, supports businesses and the integrity of the single market, and defends both the environment and the most vulnerable members of society. Simplification should be a means to reach our targets. This was the core of the discussion on Omnibus I with Lara Wolters, Vice-Chair of the EP Committee on Legal Affairs and Corporate Sustainability, Due Diligence Rapporteur.
The FEN then touched upon how to ensure that all our priorities are reflected in an ambitious long-term EU budget. This was addressed with Carla Tavares, MEP and EP co-rapporteur on the EP Report on the Next MFF. The network stressed that the next long-term budget must be in line with the EU’s ambitions and in the direction of our common objectives. The investment gap is significant, and the public dimension has a significant role to play for a stronger, more resilient and more just and sustainable Europe, ensuring prosperity, security, and protection.
The network emphasised that Europe needs to take bold action to drive its sustainable reindustrialisation and enhance its open strategic autonomy. The Clean Industrial Deal sets out the path towards this transformation.
The FEN discussed decarbonising our industries and enhancing Europe competitiveness with Thomas Auger, Member of the Cabinet of the Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera. The Clean Industrial Deal contains important proposals to cut energy bills, boost renewables, and expand clean manufacturing, to promote circularity, investing in recycling and to improve the resilience of our supply chains. Moreover, it supports support key sectors, including the automotive industry, to shift to net-zero emissions whilst building a competitive, resilient Europe.
The automotive sector was at the heart of the PES European campaign and its transition continues to be addressed across all our networks. The sector electrification must go hand in hand with social justice: this is a true test of the continent’s industrial future. PES proposals for the European automotive industry focus on four key pillars: measures to drive the green transition, including resisting attacks from the right and far right on environmental targets; measures to boost technologies and industrial capacities made in Europe; measures to ensure a just transition that protects workers and vulnerable regions; and measures to stimulate demand, as the introduction of a European social leasing scheme to make sustainable mobility accessible to all.
