Europe Spends as Much on Energy as it Does on Labour

The competitiveness of EU industry is starting to depend to a higher extent on energy expenses. The reason is fairly simple – the prices of energy in Europe grew considerably in the past 7 years, or more precisely – by 27% since 2005 until 2012. In other regions of the world, the US and Canada in particular, the prices of energy are more or less stable.

Thanks to the “shale gas revolution” this trend is expected to be maintained in the future. Under these circumstances the question arises of whether the threat exists for entire branches to move from the EU to seek their future elsewhere, for example, aluminium production. This will probably not happen at this scale, but the already existing trend for the deindustrialisation of EU economies could strengthen. In view of the lowered contribution of industry to the EU gross value added it seems expedient to set a political goal for industry as a symbolical act to turn the trend.

Secondly, industrial policy should also acknowledge that the prices of energy are among the most important factors for competitiveness and that in this regard they are equal in influence to labour skills, the good investment climate, innovations, and the protection of intellectual property, as well as the prices of raw materials. At present, we are unable to simply repeat the US shale gas revolution in Europe, but are due to assume an open attitude towards this resource.

Article by EC Vice President Antonio Tajani and EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger published by the 24 Chasa daily. 

Source: Focus Information Agency