© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU will change its state aid rules to prevent outflows caused by a new U.S. green energy subsidy package, the bloc’s chief said on Sunday.
“Competition is good … but this competition must respect the environment in which it plays,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech in the Belgian city of Bruges.
“The (US) Decentralization Act should make us think about how we can change the way we support the government and adapt it to the new environment around the world,” he said.
The 27-nation bloc fears that the US$430 billion in Depreciation Relief and its tax payments could attract EU businesses and damage European companies, from carmakers to green technology developers.
This topic is one of several discussed at the meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council on Dec. 5.
Participants include Secretary of State of America Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, along with Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager.
