The EU needs a territorially balanced industrialisation strategy to make its industries fit for these challenges in the decades to come.
We strongly support an industrialisation target and indicators beyond 2020, that measures not only manufacturing in the narrow sense, but also related industrial services, research, development and innovation, job creation and the quality of jobs, including the closing of the gender pay gap. It will be crucial to bridge digital divides to maintain the global competitiveness of European industry. All regions need to have access to digital infrastructure, including rural, remote and less-densely populated areas. Companies must be enabled to more easily adopt new technologies, particularly small and medium-sized companies. It must be a priority to keep the workforce up-to-date with new skills requirements in the digitalised industry. We want European funds to support industrial innovation, infrastructure deployment, technology deployment and skilling of the workforce for the green and digital industry of the future. We will stop the race to the bottom on low wages and low standards. We want European products, standing out with quality, sustainability and innovation. Therefore we need European research and development as well as a strong European industry to keep jobs, knowhow and production in the European Union.
4. We want big polluters to pay, including outside the EU. To accelerate the switch to renewable energies and make energy efficiency more attractive, we want Europe-wide taxes on CO2, in addition to a well-functioning EU Emissions Trading System. The EU’s industries must undertake great efforts to modernise their production processes in order to save the climate. At the same time, some countries only apply lax climate laws, giving their industries an unfair competitive advantage. A price should be put on CO2 emissions of products entering the EU from countries which are less committed to climate protection, in a way that is compatible with international trade rules. These revenues could party flow into the EU budget and be used to finance the green and just energy transition, and to support the fight against energy poverty.
We want a circular economy in Europe. We want to lead Europe’s battle to stop wasting energy and resources. We want the European Union’s economy to move away from the ‘linear’ model where raw materials are used to make a product and thrown away afterwards.
