With Donald Trump rewriting the rules of international trade, the European economy is doomed to be nothing more than a playground for its competitors, unless, of course, Europe supports a truly ambitious industrial policy.
In March, the incoming German coalition government led by Friedrich Merz from the right-leaning CDU/CSU – the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union based in Bavaria – worked with the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and the Greens to pass a historic legislative measure, loosening the stringent rules surrounding the country’s ‘debt brake’ constitutional amendment, known as the Schuldenbremse.
The Italian minister of economic affairs, Giancarlo Giorgetti, has warned that radicalisation of environmental policies could result in a political “crisis of rejection” of their goals. These concerns are all but misguided.