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Mia SimpsonFebruary 6, 2023
MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to reindustrialize the European Union, emphasizing the need to become more self-sufficient in areas such as energy, microchipping, and food production. The plan comes in response to issues of dependency on countries outside the 27-nation bloc, which have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a speech in Madrid, Sánchez said that the EU’s dependency on outside the bloc for microchips and personal protective equipment during the pandemic and Russian natural gas and grain during the war in Ukraine pose a “serious threat to the competitiveness of our businesses or to the safety and well-being of our fellow citizens.”
To counteract this, Sánchez proposed a plan to “reindustrialize Europe” and “regain jobs and strategic skills that we should never have lost.” He clarified that the focus would not be on traditional heavy industry, but on “digitalization or ecological transition.” For example, only 1% of solar panels were made in the EU, and 20% of internet storage used by the bloc is imported.
To further this goal, Sánchez announced that a joint research project involving 25 EU countries will analyze the “strategic vulnerabilities” of the bloc’s energy, food, healthcare and technology supply chains. Additionally, the EU has proposed simplifying subsidies for green industries and allocating funds to pan-European projects as the bloc aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Spain’s inflation rate is one of the lowest in Europe, thanks in part to low reliance on Russian natural gas, and the Spanish economy grew faster than expected in the final quarter of last year.
The Associated Press Source
Mia SimpsonFebruary 6, 2023
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