A novelty has happened. Without votes from Germany and France, the two largest member states, the EU labor ministers launched new rules for workers on large online platforms on Monday. Paris voted against the directive, which is intended in particular to prevent bogus self-employment in delivery and driving services such as Uber. The German traffic light coalition abstained, under pressure from the FDP. Read more in today’s Analysis by my colleague Alina Leimbach.
The German government is likely to be outvoted again in Brussels on Wednesday. The deputy EU ambassadors in Brussels will discuss the trialogue agreement on the ban on products from forced labor. Minister Christian Lindner continues to oppose the project, citing the bureaucratic burden on companies, according to the coalition. In BMF circles, it is said that it is still being examined. Even without the German vote, a qualified majority of member states will in all likelihood vote in favor of the law, according to reports in Brussels.
The regulation aims to ensure that products manufactured using forced labor are no longer sold on the EU internal market. According to the International Labor Organization, around 27.6 million people were forced to work in 2021. Next Tuesday, the ILO plans to present a new study entitled “Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor”.
I wish you an enlightening read.
After more than three years of work, 25 employment ministers of the EU member states gave their green light for the Platform Work Directive on Monday – outvoting the largest EU member states Germany and France. France voted against the directive, while Germany abstained, as in previous votes. The necessary qualified majority of 65 percent of the population was nevertheless achieved. The dossier was considered so complicated that it has now been elevated to ministerial level. According to Table.Briefings information, there were no side votes with Greece and Estonia to enable their approval of the law.
The fact that a directive received a majority in the Council against the will of France and Germany is a novelty at EU level that even experienced parliamentarians cannot remember happening before. The reason: The two countries together almost single-handedly have the necessary blocking minority to prevent decisions in the Council.
The Platform Work Directive sets out the rules for algorithmic management for the first time worldwide and is intended to be an instrument against bogus self-employment on major digital platforms such as Uber and FreeNow. The key aspect is the reversal of the burden of proof provided for in the directive. If a so-called presumption of employment is introduced in a country, which states that a platform worker could in fact be an employee, the platforms are to prove the opposite in the future. The rules on algorithmic management state that, for example, there may be no automated terminations without a human being looking over them.
The EU Commission estimates that around five million of the approximately 30 million platform workers in the EU could actually be employees. This would entitle them to minimum wages, sick pay or paid leave, for example.
In recent years, there have been repeated legal disputes with large digital platforms over allegations of bogus self-employment. These have often gone in favor of individual workers who were previously listed as self-employed. The reversal of the burden of proof is intended to help food couriers or transport service providers, who are often precariously employed, to obtain their rights in legal disputes against multinational corporations. EU-wide criteria that were supposed to lead to the initiation of an initial suspicion were removed from the text after some member states rejected them.
The German shadow rapporteur Dennis Radtke (CDU) had helped negotiate the directive and also campaigned for its approval among Christian Democrats. He told Table.Briefings: “The reversal of the burden of proof is a real game changer.” According to the CDU politician, the rules on algorithmic management contained in the directive also create the necessary standards for the digital working world for the first time.
MEP Gaby Bischoff (SPD) said that this agreement was making history for a social Europe. “In recent years, many companies have generated record turnover on the backs of platform workers, who often worked for them as bogus self-employed workers without social security.”
In the end, the project was only blocked by the liberal French government and the FDP within the German government. At the insistence of the FDP, the Social Democratic Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil had to abstain on Monday. In Brussels, however, he was delighted with the agreement: “I am very pleased that an agreement on the EU Platform Directive has been reached today.”
The deputy federal chairman of the FDP, Johannes Vogel, described the planned platform rules as “an attack on all self-employed people in Europe” before the vote. The directive was also criticized on Monday by the German Association of Entrepreneurs and the Self-Employed (VGSD). It said: “The directive’s definition of a platform is so broad that it will affect hundreds of thousands of people who do not see themselves as platform workers, are happy to be self-employed and want to remain so.”
The association would even have liked to see uniform criteria across Europe, as the VGSD believes that there is currently a lack of such clear criteria in Germany on the subject of bogus self-employment. However, observers believe it is unlikely that the new law will lead to the creation of “bogus employees”, as the status is determined by the courts.
There had been repeated criticism of the German and French stances. Macron was even described as “Uber’s chief lobbyist” in Europe. But the German abstention also caused head-shaking. After all, the German government is led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Accordingly, CDU politician Radtke also said: “This is a historic slap in the face for the German government, which has now set itself against 25 other states and almost prevented a historic agreement on the chain of a small party.”
The EU Parliament must now approve the compromise. This is considered a formality and is expected to take place in the last plenary week before the European elections in April. with Markus Grabitz
The leader of the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD), Luis Montenegro, made an anxious impression when he announced his victory in public on Sunday. He was hardly smiling in the face of the difficult task of having to form a minority government. The AD won the election with 29.49% (79 seats) compared to 28.66% (77) for the Socialists. However, with such a slim result, it will be difficult for Montenegro to form a stable government. He rejects a pact with the far-right Chega party, which came third with 18% of the vote.
The leader of the Socialists (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, announced that he would not prevent a minority government from Montenegro and that his party would go into opposition as it could not form an alternative executive.
On the possibility that the PS could wave through a state budget for 2025 presented by an AD government, Santos said that such a scenario was “practically impossible”: “It is not worth putting pressure on the PS, we will lead the opposition, we are not the ones who will support an AD government.”
The new government is not only in constant danger of being overthrown, but is also limited in its options. “A great capacity for dialog will be required”, said Montenegro, who called on all parties, especially the PS, to “show responsibility”. However, the only guarantee given by the PS is not to topple the government at the outset.
As Montenegro’s victory was so narrow, the result of the vote by Portuguese citizens living abroad must still be awaited, which will not be known until March 20. Montenegro nevertheless expects President Marcelo Rebelo de Soussa to ask him to form a government. The president will meet with the party leaders next week – on Monday with Chega, on Tuesday with the PS and on Wednesday with the AD.
As promised during the election campaign, Montenegro confirmed on election night that it would not enter into a pact with Andre Ventura’s ultra-right Chega party, which quadrupled its share of the vote with 18% (48 seats) and is therefore the big winner of the election. In the event of a minority government, however, Montenegro is likely to be dependent on Ventura for any decisions. Socialist Santos also conceded that Chega “has achieved an impressive result that cannot be ignored”, adding that “18% of Portuguese voters are not racist or xenophobic, but there are many angry Portuguese”.
For his part, Chega chairman Ventura spoke of a “historic day” and the “end of two-party rule” and said that the Portuguese had given them a majority. “We would be completely irresponsible if we did not realize it with a government that we hope can be formed tomorrow”. Ventura claims that Chega is the “most persecuted party in the entire history of democracy”. He hopes that “some journalists and commentators will swallow a few words”.
Turnout on Sunday was the highest since 2015, with 51.96% of voters having cast their ballot by 4 p.m., more than on the entire day of the 2022 elections, according to the Portuguese Interior Ministry. These figures exceeded the turnout of the last parliamentary elections by six percentage points. In the end, voter turnout was 66 percent.
The European solar industry is reeling. Chinese competitors are flooding the global market with state-subsidized modules at dumping prices, and European suppliers are increasingly losing competitiveness due to falling prices. Europe’s biggest manufacturer, Meyer Burger, threatens to relocate to the United States, which offers attractive subsidies. German manufacturers are also pleading with the German government for help. If they don’t receive help soon, they, too, could go out of business.
The EU Commission has no intention of helping out, either. As EU Commissioners recently made clear, it has no plans for trade restrictions against Chinese modules or new subsidies. Instead, the Commission shifts responsibility to the member states. The goals are ambitious, after all: The EU member states aim to develop a European solar industry that can cover 40 percent of domestic demand by 2030 with their Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) – at all stages of the value chain. The idea is to reduce dependence on China, which currently accounts for 80 to 95 percent of global production along the entire value chain.
Experts believe that the 40 percent target is neither realistic nor sensible. There is neither the will to invest in new plants nor the necessary incentives for investment to achieve the 40 percent target, Antoine Vagneur-Jones, solar expert at the analysis company BloombergNEF, told Table.Briefings. “Building solar plants in Europe is about three to four times more expensive than in China,” says Vagneur-Jones.
According to the EU Commission’s optimistic estimates, developing an industry with the necessary capacities would cost 7.5 billion euros. The association Solar Power Europe, on the other hand, assumes that investments of 30 billion euros would be required and that these would have to be made by 2025, according to Marie Tamba, Senior Research Analyst at Rhodium Group.
In order to build up a significant industry, Europe would have to “massively subsidize the investments and operating costs of solar manufacturers,” says Jenny Chase, a long-time solar analyst at BloombergNEF, in an interview with Table.Briefings. She estimates Meyer Burger’s production costs at over 40 US cents per watt, while the market price is only just over 11 US cents. Chase expressed regret: Meyer Burger has a lot of experience. It would be a “heavy blow if they withdrew.”
Analysts from the think tank Bruegel doubt that the 40 percent target makes sense at all. “Full manufacturing processes involve energy and capital-intensive investment where Europe has no advantage,” the analysts write. For example, they cite the energy-intensive production of polysilicon, the raw material for solar cells. “The global solar market, for example, is extraordinarily oversupplied and there is no climate benefit from subsidizing extra production today,” conclude the Bruegel analysts. Chase also has doubts: “The solar industry is a difficult business segment. The competition is brutal.” The newest plants have the best technology and therefore a competitive advantage. Older manufacturers have major disadvantages because the equipment is quickly outdated.
Chase estimates that the energy transition in the solar energy sector would become “perhaps 50 percent” more expensive if Europe were to significantly reduce its dependence on Chinese modules. The BloombergNEF expert believes that this is unlikely to happen.
Analysts at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie also expect a massive price increase. In the last decade, solar module costs have fallen by 85 percent. “China’s clean-tech manufacturing capacity expansion has been at the heart of this story,” they write in a recent analysis. “Without China at the table, Aggressive cost reductions we have become accustomed to are over.” According to a 2022 Nature study, the globalized solar supply chain saved Germany around seven billion US dollars alone between 2008 and 2020.
Even if other risks associated with a high level of dependence on China are taken into account, “the advantages of cheap imports outweigh the risks for the solar industry for the time being,” says Tobias Gehrke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “The combined security and economic risks are probably too small to iron out the disadvantage of Europe’s lack of competitiveness,” says the analyst and expert on competition between the major powers in the global economy.
Antoine Vagneur-Jones from BloombergNEF summarizes the situation: “The overcapacities in the solar sector are good for the energy transition: They make everything cheaper. But they weaken the economic arguments in favor of building a solar industry.”
The Bruegel analysts suggest stockpiling solar modules and diversifying trade relations as a way of becoming less dependent on China. For example, the United States and India are currently building up their own solar industries. According to Bruegel analysts, stocks of around 30 percent of market demand could lead to a certain flexibility in case China abruptly stopped selling modules. “Import diversification is a more powerful and efficient tool than import substitution,” they write.
However, Chase disagrees. If the EU states wanted to import more from the USA or India, they would have to “pay more for inferior products than for those from China.” Her colleague Antoine Vagneur-Jones points out that US manufacturers also feel the effects of overcapacity and that the first announced investments have already been canceled – despite US subsidies. BloombergNEF estimates that only around half of the announced US solar investments totaling 60 gigawatts for 2024 will actually be built. Ironically, almost a quarter of the planned investment comes from Chinese manufacturers, who are now also receiving US subsidies. India could become more of an exporter to Europe, says Elissa Pierce, Research Associate at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “At a price of 20 US cents per watt, Indian modules are more attractive to European buyers than US modules,” says the analyst. US modules are currently priced at 35 cents per watt.
However, there is a small glimmer of hope for Meyer Burger’s solar module plant in Germany. The company “1Komma5°,” a provider of solar systems, heat pumps, electricity storage systems and wallboxes, apparently wants to take over the production facilities should Meyer Burger actually abandon the plant.
A new legal option from the Net-Zero Industry Act would allow the German government to approve new plants quickly in special acceleration areas, in which private investors would be relieved of bureaucracy. “The German government must invest to make Germany attractive again for the manufacturing industry, for example by setting up Net-Zero Acceleration Valleys,” says Christian Ehler, CDU MEP, who negotiated the NZIA for Parliament.
With the collar of her trench coat turned up for stormy weather and a determined look on her face, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann heads into the upcoming election campaign. The FDP’s strategists have printed the slogan “Fighting for Europe” on her election poster, with her campaign name above it: “Eurofighterin”, which is a German feminized version of the English word Eurofighter, a made-up and rather klutzy-sounding word akin to “Eurofightress”.
The 66-year-old has long since made a name for herself among the German public with her pugnacity and tough demands, and now she is set to gain traction in other EU countries too. On the afternoon of March 20, the largest liberal party family ALDE will elect Strack-Zimmermann as its lead candidate – as of yesterday afternoon, 13 member parties had already supported her nomination. In the evening, a trio will appear before the public: in addition to MASZ, Valérie Hayer as the lead candidate for the French Renaissance party and Sandro Gozi for the smaller EDP party family.
The European Liberals are a little more complicated than other party families, as the colorful voting behavior of the Renew group in the European Parliament shows. Strack-Zimmermann certainly thinks it is “cool” to run as a trio. And she doesn’t hold back when presenting the campaign on Monday: she recommends “couples therapy” for Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz and lumps Sahra Wagenknecht together with the far right in Europe – according to her, the far left is “the same in dark red” as the far right.
Strack-Zimmermann is likely to cause further offense elsewhere with another FDP slogan for the election campaign: “Europe thrives on freedom. Not on directives.” Many of her future colleagues in the European Parliament do not see any contradiction in this. It remains to be seen whether her time in Brussels and Strasbourg will shape this self-proclaimed female version of the Eurofighter. Till Hoppe
A novelty has happened. Without votes from Germany and France, the two largest member states, the EU labor ministers launched new rules for workers on large online platforms on Monday. Paris voted against the directive, which is intended in particular to prevent bogus self-employment in delivery and driving services such as Uber. The German traffic light coalition abstained, under pressure from the FDP. Read more in today’s Analysis by my colleague Alina Leimbach.
The German government is likely to be outvoted again in Brussels on Wednesday. The deputy EU ambassadors in Brussels will discuss the trialogue agreement on the ban on products from forced labor. Minister Christian Lindner continues to oppose the project, citing the bureaucratic burden on companies, according to the coalition. In BMF circles, it is said that it is still being examined. Even without the German vote, a qualified majority of member states will in all likelihood vote in favor of the law, according to reports in Brussels.
The regulation aims to ensure that products manufactured using forced labor are no longer sold on the EU internal market. According to the International Labor Organization, around 27.6 million people were forced to work in 2021. Next Tuesday, the ILO plans to present a new study entitled “Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor”.
I wish you an enlightening read.
After more than three years of work, 25 employment ministers of the EU member states gave their green light for the Platform Work Directive on Monday – outvoting the largest EU member states Germany and France. France voted against the directive, while Germany abstained, as in previous votes. The necessary qualified majority of 65 percent of the population was nevertheless achieved. The dossier was considered so complicated that it has now been elevated to ministerial level. According to Table.Briefings information, there were no side votes with Greece and Estonia to enable their approval of the law.
The fact that a directive received a majority in the Council against the will of France and Germany is a novelty at EU level that even experienced parliamentarians cannot remember happening before. The reason: The two countries together almost single-handedly have the necessary blocking minority to prevent decisions in the Council.
The Platform Work Directive sets out the rules for algorithmic management for the first time worldwide and is intended to be an instrument against bogus self-employment on major digital platforms such as Uber and FreeNow. The key aspect is the reversal of the burden of proof provided for in the directive. If a so-called presumption of employment is introduced in a country, which states that a platform worker could in fact be an employee, the platforms are to prove the opposite in the future. The rules on algorithmic management state that, for example, there may be no automated terminations without a human being looking over them.
The EU Commission estimates that around five million of the approximately 30 million platform workers in the EU could actually be employees. This would entitle them to minimum wages, sick pay or paid leave, for example.
In recent years, there have been repeated legal disputes with large digital platforms over allegations of bogus self-employment. These have often gone in favor of individual workers who were previously listed as self-employed. The reversal of the burden of proof is intended to help food couriers or transport service providers, who are often precariously employed, to obtain their rights in legal disputes against multinational corporations. EU-wide criteria that were supposed to lead to the initiation of an initial suspicion were removed from the text after some member states rejected them.
The German shadow rapporteur Dennis Radtke (CDU) had helped negotiate the directive and also campaigned for its approval among Christian Democrats. He told Table.Briefings: “The reversal of the burden of proof is a real game changer.” According to the CDU politician, the rules on algorithmic management contained in the directive also create the necessary standards for the digital working world for the first time.
MEP Gaby Bischoff (SPD) said that this agreement was making history for a social Europe. “In recent years, many companies have generated record turnover on the backs of platform workers, who often worked for them as bogus self-employed workers without social security.”
In the end, the project was only blocked by the liberal French government and the FDP within the German government. At the insistence of the FDP, the Social Democratic Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil had to abstain on Monday. In Brussels, however, he was delighted with the agreement: “I am very pleased that an agreement on the EU Platform Directive has been reached today.”
The deputy federal chairman of the FDP, Johannes Vogel, described the planned platform rules as “an attack on all self-employed people in Europe” before the vote. The directive was also criticized on Monday by the German Association of Entrepreneurs and the Self-Employed (VGSD). It said: “The directive’s definition of a platform is so broad that it will affect hundreds of thousands of people who do not see themselves as platform workers, are happy to be self-employed and want to remain so.”
The association would even have liked to see uniform criteria across Europe, as the VGSD believes that there is currently a lack of such clear criteria in Germany on the subject of bogus self-employment. However, observers believe it is unlikely that the new law will lead to the creation of “bogus employees”, as the status is determined by the courts.
There had been repeated criticism of the German and French stances. Macron was even described as “Uber’s chief lobbyist” in Europe. But the German abstention also caused head-shaking. After all, the German government is led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Accordingly, CDU politician Radtke also said: “This is a historic slap in the face for the German government, which has now set itself against 25 other states and almost prevented a historic agreement on the chain of a small party.”
The EU Parliament must now approve the compromise. This is considered a formality and is expected to take place in the last plenary week before the European elections in April. with Markus Grabitz
The leader of the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD), Luis Montenegro, made an anxious impression when he announced his victory in public on Sunday. He was hardly smiling in the face of the difficult task of having to form a minority government. The AD won the election with 29.49% (79 seats) compared to 28.66% (77) for the Socialists. However, with such a slim result, it will be difficult for Montenegro to form a stable government. He rejects a pact with the far-right Chega party, which came third with 18% of the vote.
The leader of the Socialists (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, announced that he would not prevent a minority government from Montenegro and that his party would go into opposition as it could not form an alternative executive.
On the possibility that the PS could wave through a state budget for 2025 presented by an AD government, Santos said that such a scenario was “practically impossible”: “It is not worth putting pressure on the PS, we will lead the opposition, we are not the ones who will support an AD government.”
The new government is not only in constant danger of being overthrown, but is also limited in its options. “A great capacity for dialog will be required”, said Montenegro, who called on all parties, especially the PS, to “show responsibility”. However, the only guarantee given by the PS is not to topple the government at the outset.
As Montenegro’s victory was so narrow, the result of the vote by Portuguese citizens living abroad must still be awaited, which will not be known until March 20. Montenegro nevertheless expects President Marcelo Rebelo de Soussa to ask him to form a government. The president will meet with the party leaders next week – on Monday with Chega, on Tuesday with the PS and on Wednesday with the AD.
As promised during the election campaign, Montenegro confirmed on election night that it would not enter into a pact with Andre Ventura’s ultra-right Chega party, which quadrupled its share of the vote with 18% (48 seats) and is therefore the big winner of the election. In the event of a minority government, however, Montenegro is likely to be dependent on Ventura for any decisions. Socialist Santos also conceded that Chega “has achieved an impressive result that cannot be ignored”, adding that “18% of Portuguese voters are not racist or xenophobic, but there are many angry Portuguese”.
For his part, Chega chairman Ventura spoke of a “historic day” and the “end of two-party rule” and said that the Portuguese had given them a majority. “We would be completely irresponsible if we did not realize it with a government that we hope can be formed tomorrow”. Ventura claims that Chega is the “most persecuted party in the entire history of democracy”. He hopes that “some journalists and commentators will swallow a few words”.
Turnout on Sunday was the highest since 2015, with 51.96% of voters having cast their ballot by 4 p.m., more than on the entire day of the 2022 elections, according to the Portuguese Interior Ministry. These figures exceeded the turnout of the last parliamentary elections by six percentage points. In the end, voter turnout was 66 percent.
The European solar industry is reeling. Chinese competitors are flooding the global market with state-subsidized modules at dumping prices, and European suppliers are increasingly losing competitiveness due to falling prices. Europe’s biggest manufacturer, Meyer Burger, threatens to relocate to the United States, which offers attractive subsidies. German manufacturers are also pleading with the German government for help. If they don’t receive help soon, they, too, could go out of business.
The EU Commission has no intention of helping out, either. As EU Commissioners recently made clear, it has no plans for trade restrictions against Chinese modules or new subsidies. Instead, the Commission shifts responsibility to the member states. The goals are ambitious, after all: The EU member states aim to develop a European solar industry that can cover 40 percent of domestic demand by 2030 with their Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) – at all stages of the value chain. The idea is to reduce dependence on China, which currently accounts for 80 to 95 percent of global production along the entire value chain.
Experts believe that the 40 percent target is neither realistic nor sensible. There is neither the will to invest in new plants nor the necessary incentives for investment to achieve the 40 percent target, Antoine Vagneur-Jones, solar expert at the analysis company BloombergNEF, told Table.Briefings. “Building solar plants in Europe is about three to four times more expensive than in China,” says Vagneur-Jones.
According to the EU Commission’s optimistic estimates, developing an industry with the necessary capacities would cost 7.5 billion euros. The association Solar Power Europe, on the other hand, assumes that investments of 30 billion euros would be required and that these would have to be made by 2025, according to Marie Tamba, Senior Research Analyst at Rhodium Group.
In order to build up a significant industry, Europe would have to “massively subsidize the investments and operating costs of solar manufacturers,” says Jenny Chase, a long-time solar analyst at BloombergNEF, in an interview with Table.Briefings. She estimates Meyer Burger’s production costs at over 40 US cents per watt, while the market price is only just over 11 US cents. Chase expressed regret: Meyer Burger has a lot of experience. It would be a “heavy blow if they withdrew.”
Analysts from the think tank Bruegel doubt that the 40 percent target makes sense at all. “Full manufacturing processes involve energy and capital-intensive investment where Europe has no advantage,” the analysts write. For example, they cite the energy-intensive production of polysilicon, the raw material for solar cells. “The global solar market, for example, is extraordinarily oversupplied and there is no climate benefit from subsidizing extra production today,” conclude the Bruegel analysts. Chase also has doubts: “The solar industry is a difficult business segment. The competition is brutal.” The newest plants have the best technology and therefore a competitive advantage. Older manufacturers have major disadvantages because the equipment is quickly outdated.
Chase estimates that the energy transition in the solar energy sector would become “perhaps 50 percent” more expensive if Europe were to significantly reduce its dependence on Chinese modules. The BloombergNEF expert believes that this is unlikely to happen.
Analysts at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie also expect a massive price increase. In the last decade, solar module costs have fallen by 85 percent. “China’s clean-tech manufacturing capacity expansion has been at the heart of this story,” they write in a recent analysis. “Without China at the table, Aggressive cost reductions we have become accustomed to are over.” According to a 2022 Nature study, the globalized solar supply chain saved Germany around seven billion US dollars alone between 2008 and 2020.
Even if other risks associated with a high level of dependence on China are taken into account, “the advantages of cheap imports outweigh the risks for the solar industry for the time being,” says Tobias Gehrke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “The combined security and economic risks are probably too small to iron out the disadvantage of Europe’s lack of competitiveness,” says the analyst and expert on competition between the major powers in the global economy.
Antoine Vagneur-Jones from BloombergNEF summarizes the situation: “The overcapacities in the solar sector are good for the energy transition: They make everything cheaper. But they weaken the economic arguments in favor of building a solar industry.”
The Bruegel analysts suggest stockpiling solar modules and diversifying trade relations as a way of becoming less dependent on China. For example, the United States and India are currently building up their own solar industries. According to Bruegel analysts, stocks of around 30 percent of market demand could lead to a certain flexibility in case China abruptly stopped selling modules. “Import diversification is a more powerful and efficient tool than import substitution,” they write.
However, Chase disagrees. If the EU states wanted to import more from the USA or India, they would have to “pay more for inferior products than for those from China.” Her colleague Antoine Vagneur-Jones points out that US manufacturers also feel the effects of overcapacity and that the first announced investments have already been canceled – despite US subsidies. BloombergNEF estimates that only around half of the announced US solar investments totaling 60 gigawatts for 2024 will actually be built. Ironically, almost a quarter of the planned investment comes from Chinese manufacturers, who are now also receiving US subsidies. India could become more of an exporter to Europe, says Elissa Pierce, Research Associate at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “At a price of 20 US cents per watt, Indian modules are more attractive to European buyers than US modules,” says the analyst. US modules are currently priced at 35 cents per watt.
However, there is a small glimmer of hope for Meyer Burger’s solar module plant in Germany. The company “1Komma5°,” a provider of solar systems, heat pumps, electricity storage systems and wallboxes, apparently wants to take over the production facilities should Meyer Burger actually abandon the plant.
A new legal option from the Net-Zero Industry Act would allow the German government to approve new plants quickly in special acceleration areas, in which private investors would be relieved of bureaucracy. “The German government must invest to make Germany attractive again for the manufacturing industry, for example by setting up Net-Zero Acceleration Valleys,” says Christian Ehler, CDU MEP, who negotiated the NZIA for Parliament.
With the collar of her trench coat turned up for stormy weather and a determined look on her face, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann heads into the upcoming election campaign. The FDP’s strategists have printed the slogan “Fighting for Europe” on her election poster, with her campaign name above it: “Eurofighterin”, which is a German feminized version of the English word Eurofighter, a made-up and rather klutzy-sounding word akin to “Eurofightress”.
The 66-year-old has long since made a name for herself among the German public with her pugnacity and tough demands, and now she is set to gain traction in other EU countries too. On the afternoon of March 20, the largest liberal party family ALDE will elect Strack-Zimmermann as its lead candidate – as of yesterday afternoon, 13 member parties had already supported her nomination. In the evening, a trio will appear before the public: in addition to MASZ, Valérie Hayer as the lead candidate for the French Renaissance party and Sandro Gozi for the smaller EDP party family.
The European Liberals are a little more complicated than other party families, as the colorful voting behavior of the Renew group in the European Parliament shows. Strack-Zimmermann certainly thinks it is “cool” to run as a trio. And she doesn’t hold back when presenting the campaign on Monday: she recommends “couples therapy” for Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz and lumps Sahra Wagenknecht together with the far right in Europe – according to her, the far left is “the same in dark red” as the far right.
Strack-Zimmermann is likely to cause further offense elsewhere with another FDP slogan for the election campaign: “Europe thrives on freedom. Not on directives.” Many of her future colleagues in the European Parliament do not see any contradiction in this. It remains to be seen whether her time in Brussels and Strasbourg will shape this self-proclaimed female version of the Eurofighter. Till Hoppe
