Rabobank’s Head of Macro Strategy Elwin de Groot highlights the European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act as a major step to rebuild the Eurozone industrial base, accelerate decarbonisation and reduce external dependencies. The Act targets sectors such as steel, cement, aluminium, automotive and net‑zero technologies, and introduces stricter investment screening and local-content requirements, with negotiations in EU institutions likely to shape the final scope.

EU moves to rebuild industrial base

"A second major development was the European Commission’s adoption of the Industrial Accelerator Act, designed to rebuild Europe’s industrial base, accelerate decarbonisation in strategic sectors, reduce external technological dependencies, and strengthen economic security and supply-chain resilience."

"Strategic sectors initially targeted include steel, cement, aluminium, automotive, and net-zero technology manufacturing, with the possibility of expanding to additional industries."

"For investments above €100 million where a single non-EU country controls more than 40% of global capacity in the relevant sector, the Act introduces additional obligations, including mandatory technology transfer, local-content requirements, creation of high-quality jobs, and ensuring at least 50% EU workforce participation."

"The Regulation now moves to negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council and may be amended. Politico warns that with numerous last‑minute changes – including dropping certain industries – the legislation risks substantial revision before final adoption. "

"Once in force, however, it could have significant implications for the affected sectors. That the EU is losing its economic innocence does not seem a far-fetched conclusion, we would argue."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)