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155
EU must accept short-term costs to reduce dependence on China for clean-energy tech to reduce strategic vulnerability as further delay will be more expansive, climate chief says (www.euronews.com)
submitted 1 day ago by tardigrade@scribe.disroot.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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...

Europe must accept higher short-term costs to reduce its dependence on China for clean-energy technologies, EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has told Euronews, warning that delaying action will make the strategic vulnerability harder and more expensive to unwind.

The EU should have confronted its reliance on China “five to ten years ago”, Hoekstra said, arguing that waiting longer would bring greater disruption and costs.

“But it will be much cheaper and much more to our advantage to do it now than be wishy washy and wait another five to 10 years,” the Dutch Commissioner said.

...

“This will stay with us for years to come, because the dependencies in many domains have simply become too large,” he said, describing the situation as a “dangerous and uncomfortable” vulnerability for both Europe’s climate ambitions and economic security.

...

Tensions [between the EU and China] have intensified as Brussels has taken measures to protect the European market, targeting Chinese companies over issues including illegal products, state subsidies and foreign investment. Beijing has threatened retaliation.

Hoekstra pointed to Europe’s solar industry as a warning of what can happen when domestic production loses out to heavily subsidised Chinese imports.

But the Commissioner went further, raising concerns about alleged Chinese interference and security risks involving critical infrastructure in Europe.

“Kill switches are being included in windmills. Espionage happens at a very high degree on European soil. Intellectual property theft in our most advanced companies happens on a weekly basis and on and on and on — that is something no government and the EU can simply allow,” he said.

...

The goal is ... to ensure that Europe is no longer vulnerable to a single external supplier for technologies critical to its energy transition.

The challenge, Hoekstra said, is to build European capacity now — even if doing so comes with higher costs in the short term.

...

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[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

It sounds like you think you can redirect entire continent in a matter of weeks.

No. I expect it to be done within years. In the last 20 years there has been next to 0 progress on cutting ties with the US or Israel. Only minimal effort in the last 18 months.

This doesn't change the fact that many countries are investing heavily in renewables

They are, and it's great. The problem is, this entire post is about EU's commisioner for climate action who calls to stop buying renewable infrastructure from China. Which accounts for 90% of all produced globally. So he's basically saying we should abandon renewables, for the sake of some delusional moral high ground over China. Which the EU is in no place to even claim.

This is nowhere close to being in the EU's best interest. The only beneficiary here would be the US, as usual.

Also, EU is working hard to stop importing weapons from US. This varies by country but for example Spain canceled their F-35 orders, other countries are also choosing European manufacturers now. This also doesn't fit you're narrative of "EU blindly following orders".

One country canceled one order. Meanwhile Finland and Poland finalized their own purchases of F-35s, with Poland also ordering a lot of other equipment. Last year Germany finalized a 2 billion euro deal with an Israeli missiles producer. Similar deals in Italy, though on a smaller scale.

I could go on for several A4 pages. All it takes is one quick search.

people like you, doing everything they can to undermine it

The only people undermining the EU are American spies, agents, and other assets, who completely fill the rooms on all EU meetings, and who make anti-EU decisions every chance they get.