The European Commission wants to set up a € 100 billion fund to support the “European champions” so that these companies can compete with the US and Chinese giants.
The next president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who takes up the post on 1 November, is waiting for a different proposal from the usual coming of Brussels orthodoxy: a European Future Fund with 100 billion euros for ” European champions “.
Brussels technicians have prepared a proposal for a € 100 billion investment fund to support European companies that are able to compete with US giants, notably technology giants Google or Apple, and Chinese companies like Alibaba.
The 173-page proposal, obtained by Politico, aims to build a more defensive European Union that can withstand the protectionist measures of Washington and Beijing.
“The emergence and leadership of private competitors outside the European Union, with unprecedented financial means, has the potential to destroy existing innovation dynamics and the industrial position of EU industry in certain sectors,” the document reads. By putting more public money into EU-born companies, the Commission intends to counteract this trend.
Brussels has identified companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent as some of the rivals that European companies have to face. “Europe has no such companies,” the document notes.
If approved, the fund will use European budget money to have at least € 100 billion in public and private funding.
Unlike the existing funds for research and development (R&D) in Europe, this money would be invested directly in the capital, a sign that Brussels is planning a softer attitude towards public support for the industry in order to boost European talent. At this time,
“The fund’s operating mode will have a long-term, capital-focused perspective with a profit-oriented business model,” the Commission writes, adding that such a strategy will make it possible to achieve the goal of helping the “European champions” while at the same time. time, maintain the financial stability of the fund.
The document also states that unprecedented European measures will be needed against the US as the White House has been playing a game outside the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, the European Union should place stricter conditions on Chinese companies to penalize them for the high level of state subsidies they receive from Beijing.
In response to the Politician, a spokesman for von der Leyen’s team said, “No one on the transition team has heard this mysterious Future European Fund.”