EU wants quick deal with US on green subsidies

The EU wants to make short-term deals with the US on access to climate subsidies previously announced by President Joe Biden’s government. European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen will be in Washington next week.

This was reported by Bloomberg news agency. Biden recently announced hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and tax incentives to support U.S. industry in accelerating the clean energy transition.

Resistance

This has led to protests in the EU, as state aid threatens to put European industry at a disadvantage. The European Commission is now aiming for agreements that would allow EU member states, as free trade partners of the US, to gain access to many of these support measures.

Van der Leyen and Biden will next week try to reach agreements in principle on, among other things, access to strategically important raw materials, the labor market and sustainability. It could give the EU the same status as a free trade partner of the US, so that member states could also benefit from climate subsidies.

Also Read | EU to temporarily relax state aid rules

Biased

Last month, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis had already said the US was open to granting the EU that status. It would help fix “discriminatory aspects” of the anti-inflation law, as Biden’s bill for billions of dollars in subsidies is called.