Brussels (dpa) - Slow economic growth, increasing geopolitical tensions, tough technological competition and the threat of US tariffs: the outlook for Europe's competitiveness is anything but rosy. In addition, the climate crisis and its consequences need to be tackled. While the EU Commission put an unprecedented package of measures on the table in the last legislative period with the "Green Deal", primarily for a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the focus is now shifting to Europe's industry.

This Wednesday, the Brussels authority intends to present several ideas and measures to get the economy back on track for growth. With the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), for example, it intends to present a package of measures covering various areas from critical raw materials to international cooperation. This includes an action plan for lower energy prices. It also aims to simplify reporting requirements for sustainability and investments, for example.

What is the EU Commission proposing? An overview.

Focus on green technologies

The focus of the Clean Industrial Deal is on energy-intensive industries and clean, green technologies (clean-tech) such as wind turbines, according to a draft published by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. For example, the Commission is aiming for 40 percent of green technologies to be produced in the EU in future. According to the draft, it also wants to propose revising the directive on public procurement by the end of 2026 so that price is no longer the only deciding factor for a bidder.

Affordable energy

The high energy prices in Europe are causing problems for industry. With an action plan for affordable energy, the EU Commission wants to reduce prices and promote the expansion of green energy, among other things. To this end, competition rules are to be simplified, for example, according to a draft of the plan, which is also available to Deutsche Presse Agentur. In order to lower electricity costs, the Commission is calling on the member states to reduce electricity taxes, among other things.

More recycling

The Commission believes that Europe should adopt a more strategic approach to the procurement of key raw materials in order to drastically reduce dependencies and avoid supply disruptions, according to the draft. This means, among other things: Recycle more. 25 percent of so-called strategic raw materials are to come from recycling by the end of the decade. To support this, there is to be a law by the end of 2026 that creates a single market for waste and reusable materials.

Fewer reporting obligations

According to a draft that has also been made available to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the EU Commission would like the EU sustainability reporting requirements to apply to fewer companies in future, for example no longer to small and medium-sized enterprises. The authority also wants to tackle the EU Supply Chain Act. According to the draft, it could propose reducing certain obligations. CSU MEP Markus Ferber said that sustainability reporting had "gone off the rails" in recent years. The economic politician went on to say: "The wave of bureaucracy that is rolling towards our companies with the European Supply Chain Act and sustainability reporting is huge." The Commission would do well to tidy this up now. These are very substantial proposals that should not be squashed in the legislative process.

Financing

According to the Commission, the green transformation will require triple-digit billion investments in energy, industry and transportation, as outlined in the draft Clean Industrial Deal. Among other things, the allocation of state aid is to be made easier. In addition to public funds, however, the Commission wants to use private capital in particular. According to a draft for the simplification of investments, which was made available to dpa, the authority wants to increase InvestEU, the EU's long-term financing program, by 2.5 billion euros to 28.6 billion euros in EU guarantees. In this way, it hopes to stimulate at least 50 billion euros in private investment. InvestEU uses the guarantees from the EU budget to secure loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other financial institutions.

Commission sticks to climate targets

With all these measures, the EU Commission is sticking to the goal of making the international community climate-neutral by 2050 - in other words, not emitting more greenhouse gases than can be absorbed again. According to the draft, the interim target of a 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2040 is also to be maintained. This interim target is currently a recommendation from the EU Commission; a binding legislative proposal is still pending.