“France will not meet its climate targets if Europe does not rethink its approach to industry,” says French Industry Minister Marc Ferratsi, whose initiative prompted his counterparts from other EU countries to meet in Paris today. EU counterparts from other EU countries are meeting today with the aim, French diplomats say, of urging Brussels to draw up a steel contingency plan, which has been under discussion for months. As the French minister explains in an interview published in LesEchos, the Clean Industry Pact presented on Wednesday by the European Commission is too timid and France will not meet future European climate targets if Brussels does not revise it.

The French minister says that “we are at a turning point for European industry“, which he notes is “in a situation comparable to that of the financial system in 2008“. “There is some progress compared to the past in the plan presented by Brussels but I don’t think it is ambitious enough in terms of its content and timing. If we do not take extremely strong measures, there will be repercussions on our living standards, on social cohesion,” the French minister said, continuing: “Let me remind you of the level of underinvestment highlighted in the Draghi report, the cyclical slowdown in demand, the structural competitiveness problems in industry, as well as the unfair competition from certain countries and the increases in customs tariffs announced on Wednesday night by Trump” while pointing out that research and development in industry is funded twice as much in the US as in Europe, as is the case with the increase in related spending in China.