EU delays announcement of "European Manufacturing" policy

Investing.com – The European Commission announced on Monday that it has delayed the publication of the Industrial Acceleration Act by one week due to disagreements over the geographic scope of the proposed measures.

According to a spokesperson from Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager’s office, the policy was originally scheduled to be announced on Thursday but has now been rescheduled for March 4.

The Industrial Acceleration Act aims to establish a minimum threshold for local manufacturing of components used in projects funded by public money, involving strategic sectors such as batteries, solar energy, wind power, and nuclear energy.

France has been one of the governments supporting the “European Manufacturing” regulation, believing that Europe’s industry needs protection to guard against cheap imports from markets like China, which have more relaxed environmental and other regulations.

Sweden and the Czech Republic expressed concerns, believing that the “buy local” requirement could hinder investment, increase government procurement costs, and damage the EU’s global competitiveness.

Automakers and other industries have requested that the protections be extended beyond the EU and European Free Trade Association countries (including Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein) to cover other regions in their supply chains, including the UK and Turkey.

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