The EU came up with an idea. He will give us higher prices
The European Union wants to become independent from China and the United States. Although the goal itself is right and it is difficult to criticize it, its implementation raises doubts. Germany says that this means higher prices not only for electric cars and heat pumps, but also for batteries, and potentially also for electronics, including laptops and smartphones.
The EU is preparing pay rises for us
The European Commission’s idea – called the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) – is simple. Brussels wants, among other things, to make companies’ access to public funds dependent on how many products produced in the European Union they use. However, officials also envisage the possibility of using solutions from allied countries, including Great Britain, Canada and Japan.
Example? A public order for new cars means that the car must be built partly from elements that were produced on the Old Continent. If not, the company will not be able to participate in the tender at all.
This proposal is referred to as “Made in Europe”. It is to concern strategic areas, including: the energy-intensive sector (steel, aluminum and cement), the automotive sector (encouragement to buy European cars) and the clean technology sector (nuclear, heat pumps, photovoltaics, but also batteries). For Poland, this means, among other things, a problem with nuclear power plants, which we are supposed to build in cooperation with the Americans.
Germans criticize the changes
Germans, among others, do not like the proposals and say they are abandoning free trade. They also talk about creating a bureaucratic monster in this way, because it will be necessary, for example, to check how many parts in a car battery come from Europe.
Protectionism does not protect against lack of competitiveness. Anyone who isolates their own market jeopardizes access to global growth markets in the future.
Poland does not speak with one voice
The proposals are also widely commented on in Poland. The president of the Reform Institute, Aleksander Śniegocki, believes that this is a chance for Poland to become one of the beneficiaries of the changes.
In turn, Kamil Laskowski, an expert from the Instrat Foundation, believes that the IAA will take into account the interests of French and German companies, not Polish ones. In his opinion, the requirement of origin of industrial production should not apply to the entire EU. Supplies should come from the Member State where the tender is held.
