Dusseldorf The Vice-President of the EU Commission Margrethe Vestager has positioned herself clearly in the debate surrounding Nord Stream 2: “We never thought that Nord Stream 2 was in the European interest. That was already very clear during the initial planning,” she said in an interview with Handelsblatt editor-in-chief Sebastian Matthes at the Europe 2022 conference, a cooperation between Handelsblatt, “Zeit”, “Wirtschaftswoche” and “Tagesspiegel”. The energy crisis can be solved by more sources of gas, such as more liquid gas.
Vestager also spoke about the EU’s technology competition with the US and China and advised more self-confidence: “We should not underestimate ourselves because Europe is a powerhouse when it comes to prosperity, trade and productivity. We research semiconductors and manufacture the machines for chip production – to name just two concrete examples,” she said.
France’s Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire wants to strengthen the EU’s digital sovereignty. “We want European money to be invested in European start-ups,” he demanded. Europe’s technologies “should not be controlled by either China or the US. We want to be an independent power,” he said.
Specifically, he wants to set up a Franco-German fund of funds for the tech sector. He also spoke about the special role of Germany and France in nuclear power and the green transition of the economy.
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More: The previous episode of Handelsblatt Disrupt can be found here