France will be the first country in the Europe to link the incentives for the purchase of electric cars to the origin of their production, as is already the case in the United States for several months now with the inflation reduction law. In particular, the new subsidy scheme, which is part of a broader plan to accelerate the environmental relaunch of transatlantic industry, explicitly requires production in Europe.
Industrial restart
The new twist was announced by President Emmanuel Macron when he presented to a large audience of businessmen, managers, politicians and bureaucrats the measures of a bill that could be approved by the government as early as next Tuesday and by Parliament in the summer. "We will be the first European country to review the criteria for granting the bonus," said Macron, who has already in recent months stressed the importance of following the example of the United States to favour continental production and to respond not only to American neo-protectionism but also to the aggressive Chinese expansionist foray: in the first quarter of this year alone, French incentives (5.000 euros for vehicles with a price of up to 47,000 euros and a weight of less than 2.4 tonnes) involved the 40% of electric cars manufactured in China. "This does not mean that we are protectionist, we will not close the market, but we do not want to use French taxpayers' money to support non-European industry," the French president clarified.
Low footprint
At present, there are no details on the design of the intervention. The size and requirements for the bonus will be determined in the coming months, but it is likely that to avoid any accusations of protectionism Paris will include emissions generated during purely industrial activities in the requirements. In essence, a low carbon footprint will be set to ensure that cars and batteries are produced using renewable energy sources. Since 60% of energy in China is produced from coal, Chinese manufacturers will be excluded from any incentives.
European impetus
And not only that. The occupant of the Elysee Palace has long been calling on the European institutions to launch similar measures, also to support battery production, and now he intends to push this path with determination: "This is a small revolution that we want to bring to the European level. "I don't want Europe to support batteries that are not made in Europe," he added, "because neither the Americans nor the Chinese support batteries made in Europe. On the other hand, Macron himself has already called on other governments on the Old Continent to launch a kind of "Buy European Act" to counter China and the United States. Except that, at least so far, no other country has responded to the French president's urging, so Macron has decided to break the deadlock and move forward with a measure that is bound to cause some consternation among his European partners.
