Covering strategic sectors such as steel, cement, aluminium, automotive and zero-emission technologies, the new EU law aims to halt and reverse the trend of job losses.
The European Commission wants to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP from 14.3% in 2024 to 20% by 2035, while preserving or creating 150,000 jobs in areas such as electric vehicles.
At stake is a strategy unveiled on Wednesday to strengthen the “Made in Europe” label, under the new Industrial Roundtable Act, through which the European executive aims to “increase demand for European low-carbon technologies and products” by giving “a boost to production, promoting business growth and job creation” in the European Union, according to a statement from the institution.
According to the European Commission, the measure aims to strengthen European productive capacity in a context of growing global competition — particularly from the United States — and dependence on external suppliers, such as China, in areas considered strategic. The goal is to raise the share of manufacturing to 20% of EU GDP by 2035, up from 14.3% recorded in 2024.
Covering strategic sectors such as steel, cement, aluminium, automotive and net-zero emission technologies — including batteries, solar energy, wind power, heat pumps and nuclear energy — the new EU law aims to halt and reverse the negative trend of job losses.
Among the proposed measures is the inclusion of preference for “Made in EU” and low-carbon products in public procurement and state aid in these sectors. For large foreign investments of over 100 million euros, companies will also be required to create skilled jobs in the EU, transfer technology and meet a minimum percentage of European production, with foreign participation limited in certain cases.
The idea is thus to “strengthen European production capacity and increase demand for clean technologies and products made in Europe”, requiring member states to “create a single digital licensing process to accelerate and simplify industrial projects.”
In the automotive sector, estimates suggest that if current trends continue, up to 600,000 jobs could be eliminated over the next five to ten years. The Industrial Roundtable Act aims to reverse this by preserving and creating around 150,000 jobs in other sectors — including securing 85,000 jobs in the current battery project pipeline, creating 58,852 jobs in the solar energy manufacturing industry, and preserving up to 4,500 jobs in the steel sector through low-carbon measures.
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Since 2019, production volumes in energy-intensive industries have fallen by nearly 20%, while the EU’s dependence on China has increased 4.2 times in the case of electric vehicles compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. Currently, around 50% of batteries used in the EU are imported from China, as are 94% of photovoltaic solar modules and cells and around 50% of inverters.
The strategic sectors covered by the new law account for around 15% of EU industrial output.
