Valletta (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In a statement, EU Parliament president Roberta Mestsola said that the EU needs to be capable of acting on its own, regardless of who wins next week’s US election.
European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said Europe needs to act of its own accord and not just respond to US policy. “In the last eight years, Europe has always reacted to what the US does and waited for America to save us when there was a war close by” Metsola described in an event in Floriana arranged by the EP office in Malta.
Why is Metsola urging the EU to act independently?
European governments should not expect US policy to always act to the EU’s benefit, she stated, providing a recent example: “A [US] law was presented as an environmental law but was truly done to safeguard American industries. We were too late to respond to that”. Metsola was quoting the Inflation Reduction Act that delivers generous tax credits and fiscal incentives on renewable energy, electric vehicle incentives, home energy efficiency advancements, and advanced manufacturing companies.Â
Critics claim the act may promote a transformation in green investments and production from the EU to the US. Next week the US will pick between Democrat vice-president Kamala Harris or former Republican president Donald Trump.
Metsola expressed that no matter who succeeds in the election, the EU needs to be better ready to act of its own accord. “Our businesses are begging us to be equipped and not be complacent or squeezed by China and India,” she added.
What support do EU entrepreneurs need to compete globally?
Moreover, Metsola stated that Maltese entrepreneurs had to concentrate on presenting the best products, and for that to happen, businesses required all the support they could get from the government. She added that the education approach should also look to prioritise the current requirements of young people: “People are nowadays entering the world of work, go back into education and then change careers”.
