Still, some sectors may not have time to wait. Steel firms, in particular, have warned that they face irreversible decline without help this year. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced urgent discussions with the metals sector starting next week.
The Clean Industrial Deal also encompasses measures to boost investment, lower energy prices and increase demand for clean manufacturing.
Those initiatives include new made-in-EU criteria for climate-friendly materials bought by governments and other public authorities.
“This deal proposes to totally rethink the logic behind public procurement, which until now has been based solely on the cost criteria,” Séjourné said. “We’re going to be adding new criteria of sustainability, resilience, performance and European preference in public contracts, and more generally, in public assistance.”
The private sector will be included, too, he added: “We’ll also be taking a look at the private sector, such as company car fleets.”
Other measures include joint purchasing of critical raw materials. “We need to do with lithium or cobalt what we did with Covid vaccines,” Séjourné said.
