The Executive Vice-president of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, defended this Monday at the Forum Europa in Brussels that the “many” challenges that exist in matters such as autonomy in energy and raw materials must be addressed, as well as the “devastating consequences” of climate change. “Ignoring these realities is not the way to face the problems. In fact, they will not disappear like this”, she warned.
Ribera expressed herself in these terms during an informative meeting organised by New Economy Forum in the EU capital, where she warned that ignoring the problems will not only mean that they will not be fixed, but that they will “affect” the economy and citizens more.
She pointed out that “Europe offers irreversible progress” in terms of building a “better future”, thanks to “strong institutions, social stability, strong cohesion” of citizens and the ability to “solve problems”.
She also highlighted the single market, which provides access to some 450 million citizens and consumers and allows companies to operate in 27 States. And all of this, according to Ribera, always with a focus on “solidarity”, “freedoms” and “human rights”. In her opinion, Europe is one of the “best” places in the world to live and invest.
Having said this, the former Vice-president of the Government of Spain also stressed the urgency of facing existing challenges and pointed out that “we need a supply of clean energy” that is sufficient for traditional consumers and families and also for the digital world, “which has emerged as a demanding use of our energy resources”.
She also warned that “we cannot compete” without further promoting industry and stressed that “decarbonising the economy at the lowest costs, while promoting growth and innovation” and promoting “modern” industry, will be the “most powerful engine for a better and more competitive Europe”.
Ribera recognised that not all the resources needed may exist in Europe, so she opted to maximise their good use while forging “strong” relationships with other external allies. Furthermore, although she considered risks in these challenges, she clarified that the promotion of the green transition will also contribute to generating millions of jobs.
On the other hand, when asked if Ribera will have a plan on clean industrialisation ready in the first 100 days of the new mandate in the European Commission, she answered “yes” and specified that is working on it with other areas of the Commission.
She stressed that “we need to have large data centres” and supercomputing facilities “that allow us to be much more efficient, intelligent and offer services to families, to industries, to enter this virtuous circle, to be increasingly competitive and intelligent”.
However, Ribera warned that this has “great challenges” due to the significant number of semiconductors that are needed, which now come mostly from outside the EU. In her opinion, the necessary infrastructures must be created to guarantee strategic autonomy, given the “security concerns to prevent this from being a risk”.
In her speech, Ribera also paused to ask that the EU cannot be “naive” in its relationship with other commercial partners, although she defended at all times the advantages of the fact that here, in the ways of producing, rights are guaranteed to consumers and to the workers themselves in their performance. “It took many decades to build this”, she added, acknowledging that there are companies in other parts of the world that are not as “committed” to these values when it comes to competing.
“Now is the European Union’s time to shine and lead the way to a fair, clean and competitive transition. And we want others to join our goals, working together with our values of trust, mutual respect and transparency, guiding us and convincing us that we can secure our future,” concluded Ribera.
