- Babiš wants to get Macron’s support for increasing Europe’s competitiveness.
- He fears that the informal EU summit will not bring concrete changes.
- He criticizes the attitude of the European Commission towards nuclear energy and the ETS directive.
- He outlined an 11-point plan and initiated the creation of a group of friends of competitiveness.
The main goal of the Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babiša at Wednesday’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, he will convince the head of the Elysee Palace, to supported Czech proposals to increase Europe’s competitiveness. Babiš fears that nothing will change in this area after Thursday’s informal EU summit. He said this on Wednesday before his flight to Paris, reports TASR correspondent in Prague.
“Since Monday, I’ve been trying to lobby intensively and prepare for an informal European council, which is fundamental for the future of European industry and the lives of Europeans. It’s about energy prices… I’m afraid that it will turn out that everyone will say something and nothing will happen. We don’t want to allow that… We’re losing our competitiveness against Asia or the United States and it needs to be addressed immediately. That’s why today at the meeting with Macron I will convince him to support us.” said Babiš.
He pointed out that France is a power in the production of nuclear energy and he finds it incredible that the European Commission does not want to recognize the core as equally clean and a sustainable resource such as the sun or wind. According to him, this situation is absurd.
He described the ETS 1 directive as a failed project of the European Commission. “It is necessary to admit that a big mistake has been made. It is necessary to prevent financial speculators and banks from profiting from this and to do what I already wrote in 2021, when I also wrote a letter where a ceiling of 30 euros was proposed. If they pay 2.5 euros for emission allowances in India, the European industry cannot survive this in good health,” emphasized the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.
Two weeks ago, he sent a letter to EU leaders and representatives of individual member states in which he outlined 11 points on how to restore Europe’s competitiveness. According to Babiš, their fulfillment should contribute to supporting industry, securing available energy or removing obstacles for companies so that they can continue to grow.
In addition, he also proposed the establishment of a group of “friends of competitiveness” that would address individual points in detail. He has already talked about his idea with several European leaders, for example Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico.
