Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday called for a joint European Union response to the U.S. subsidy plan as a matter of priority, arguing that the answer lies in increasing the productivity and competitiveness of European companies.
In a speech to the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the occasion of the start of the six-month presidency of the EU, Kristersson insisted on the need to have strong companies and invest more in research in the face of the challenge posed by the American aid plan.
After recognizing that the EU is struggling with various challenges such as the rise in energy prices or the actions of competitors such as the US inflation reduction law, the Scandinavian leader insisted that the solution lies in raising productivity, ruling out a subsidy race with Washington.
«We must not forget that long-term competitiveness must be built on strong companies that can fight and survive in an open market. Low productivity, insufficient development spending and high electricity costs jeopardize competitiveness more than the lack of production subsidies,» he reflected.
For all these reasons, Kristersson urged the EU to «go a step further» and advocated a long-term strategy «to boost the productivity and competitiveness» of the European economy.
USING RUSSIAN ASSETS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF UKRAINE In his speech, the Prime Minister outlined the priorities of the Swedish presidency for the coming months, insisting on an agenda that promotes a «greener, safer and freer» Europe. In this sense, he described the war in Ukraine as an «existential» crisis for Europe and called for maintaining European unity, something which, in his opinion, Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated when he ordered the invasion of the neighboring country.
«The last few years have shown that in times of crisis the EU can unite and exert international influence without losing sight of the long-term agenda. Putin’s regime underestimated Ukraine and also the EU,» he has exposed.
The Nordic leader has encouraged the international community to start working for the reconstruction of Ukraine. «Rebuilding Ukraine after the war will remind us of the Marshall Plan and in these efforts the Russian frozen assets should be part of the solution,» he said, stressing that the world «must unite» to study how to use these funds seized from Moscow to repair the damage caused to Ukraine in the course of the war.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
