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NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 22:20
The European Commission wants to offer member states the opportunity to give tax advantages to companies that make sustainable investments. The proposal is part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP) that will be presented on Wednesday and is in the hands of the NOS.
To finance the GDIP, the Commission wants to set up a new fund that will be partly filled with money from the European corona recovery fund. With the money from the new fund, member states can also receive grants and loans to make their economies greener.
Earlier, the EU already started a program called RePowerEU. Money will also remain available from this to make European industry more sustainable.
Answer to American plan
The GDIP is seen as the European response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). That is a $ 700 billion investment package from the Biden administration to curb inflation while making the US industry more sustainable. Half of the amount is earmarked for making the industry more sustainable.
The EU sees the IRA as unwanted state aid. For example, Americans can receive a discount of more than $ 7,000 on the purchase of an electric car, if it is made in the US. This is at the expense of European-made cars. European countries are afraid that companies will move factories to the US if the EU does not respond.
If it becomes easier for Member States to give companies tax credits, it will become more attractive for companies to stay in Europe. It can lead to skewed faces within the EU. For example, a rich country like Germany can more easily allocate money to maintain its car industry than a country like Italy.
Get to Europe
The draft plan also states that the Commission wants to bring production chains that are necessary for generating wind and solar energy to Europe. To achieve this, more scarce raw materials must be extracted in Europe and more must be recycled.
According to the plan, the production of solar and wind energy, batteries, heat pumps and hydrogen will require 170 billion euros by 2030.
The EU wants to distinguish itself from the rest of the world by maintaining high standards when it comes to environmental requirements and working conditions. The EU also wants to speed up procedures for projects involving several Member States, but from which the entire EU benefits.
Ruth
The plan is not fixed yet, adjustments are still possible. The final plan is on the agenda of the EU summit with government leaders on 9 and 10 February.
Prime Minister Rutte is not in favor of establishing a new fund with new money. “There is already so much money going around”, he said on Tuesday after a meeting with Commission President Von der Leyen and his Belgian colleague De Croo. Rutte said that some member states spend too much money on pensions, “money that would be better spent on innovation and green technology”.
French President Macron wants 380 billion euros to be made available for the new fund. Rutte said today after a meeting with Macron that he still finds that too much. He wants all kinds of European jars to be used first. But he too wants a solution to the “unintended consequences” of the US IRA package.
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