President Nicușor Dan and 9 other European leaders have sent a letter to the head of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the Council Antonio Costa, requesting an urgent review of the emissions system to protect the EU’s industry and competitiveness.
The letter is signed by leaders from Austria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, according to Antena3.
The ten European leaders have stated that "Europe is at a critical moment" and are calling for a rapid review of climate policies affecting the industry.
The letter also indicates that the current decisions regarding economic competitiveness will impact the prosperity, technological leadership, and strategic autonomy of the continent for the decades to come.
"Europe is at a critical moment. The decisions made today regarding competitiveness will determine our prosperity, technological leadership, and strategic autonomy for the decades to come. Recent geopolitical developments once again highlight the fragility of current economic ecosystems and the challenging environment in which companies operate.
European competitiveness has long been - and remains more than ever - the backbone of our prosperity, strength, and resilience. The European project has always been based on economic success, by promoting sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. Protecting our strength is therefore not only an economic issue but also a profoundly political task," the letter states.
The document specifies that the current trajectory of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the mechanism through which the European Union taxes carbon emissions, is considered too steep until 2034.
The European industry remains committed to the ecological transformation process, but the gradual elimination of free emission certificates, combined with high energy costs, risks severely affecting strategic industrial sectors.
The signatories request a thorough review of the ETS system so that the impact on electricity prices is reduced and the volatility of carbon prices is limited. They also propose extending the allocation of free emission certificates within the ETS beyond 2034.
The signatories believe that the gradual phase-out of these allocations, scheduled to begin in 2028, should be done more gradually to avoid excessive burden on the industry during the transition period.
"Today we see that the trajectory foreseen by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) until 2034 is too steep and too ambitious. Our industry is committed and continues to take the necessary steps to transform its business models.
However, combined with high energy prices and the gradual elimination of free allocations from the ETS, the current framework has become an existential risk for many strategic European industrial sectors. This is a lesson learned," the letter further states.