The US government is pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into America’s energy transition. The federal government, but also the French head of state, find this unfair. A manager at ntv counters: Europe should follow suit, not whine.
Top manager Martin Richenhagen has no understanding for the European and especially German criticism of the billions in climate subsidies from the USA. “The problem isn’t so much what the Americans do, but what the Germans don’t do,” says the former CEO of AGCO Corporation on ntv. “The catastrophically high energy costs in Germany and the great bureaucracy are a very dramatic locational disadvantage of Germany.”
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, among others, has recently repeatedly criticized US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was passed in August. The package provides $370 billion (around €357 billion) for climate protection and energy security – the largest investment in the fight against global warming in US history. In an analysis, the Swiss bank Credit Suisse comes to the conclusion that the financial aid could even double to up to 800 billion dollars, since the law does not provide for a cap. Among other things, tax breaks for electric cars, batteries and renewable energy projects “Made in the USA” are planned.
Incentives that the former manager Richenhagen would also like for Germany. Habeck is an elegant rhetorician, but “what he has brought to the economy so far is a great catastrophe, is very disappointing. He is letting the economy down,” says the chairman of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at ntv. “It’s shocking to see how little Habeck is really committed to the economy. And what’s very important is how little expertise he has. Not just him personally, but also his ministry and those around him.”
Habeck announced on Tuesday that Europe would respond to American subsidies with similar measures. It would be absurd if there were a subsidy race with the USA in the current energy crisis, he said at an industry conference in Berlin. Hopefully this can be avoided, but it cannot be entirely assumed. There is also a need for European framework legislation for subsidies in climate-neutral production. In addition, new funding programs in Europe and faster approvals are needed.
The federal government is not alone in its anger in Europe. During a state visit to the US, French President Emmanuel Macron also called the planned subsidies “super aggressive” towards European companies. The US could perhaps solve its problems with it, “but you will increase my problem,” said Macron at a lunch with US parliamentarians. Without coordination between the US and the EU, “many jobs are in danger of being destroyed,” Macron said.
The dispute is also likely to become a central topic of talks between Macron and US President Biden in the White House later in the day. The French head of state arrived in the United States on Tuesday evening for a state visit lasting several days.
