Europe is becoming more aware of itself as an economic and trading power – that’s the message from France’s secretary of state for European affairs, Laurence Boone. She talks about the new tools the EU has given itself to take on unfair competition, especially from Chinese companies, but she also downplays the warnings of a possible conflict with the United States over subsidies. Boone also outlines the latest moves when it comes to sanctions on Russia and EU support for Ukraine and Moldova.
“Europe is realising and acknowledging that it is a strong financial and regulatory power,” Boone says about the EU’s response to US subsidies. “The EU is making €400 billion available immediately, in the form of state aid and tax credits, or through the cohesion funds. That matches the US Inflation Reduction Act. But this does not mean a subsidy war with the US. Because we respect rules-based governance. What we’ve discussed with the US is total transparency. So when a European company wants to settle in the US, the US will communicate transparently with us on that, and we will offer them exactly the same transparency if companies want to settle in Europe.”
