The European Commission wants to formulate a response to the US plans at a summit tomorrow. With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a package of tax breaks and subsidies, President Joe Biden wants to support local industry and accelerate the green transition. Converted, this is an amount of around 340 billion euros.
But the Netherlands is already saying that it makes no sense to set up new European funds that match the American plan. ‘The Netherlands certainly don’t want to block everything tomorrow,’ explains political journalist Sophie van Leeuwen, ‘but they do want to block part of that green business plan. The Cabinet doesn’t want to invest extra billions to keep businesses here or for extra loans. Because according to the Cabinet those billions are still there.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte sums it up like this: “There is a lot of money in Europe. If you add it up, you end up taller than what Americans have available right now. My take would be: look at that.
Crown Recovery Fund
Rutte and Adriaansens refer, among other things, to the corona recovery fund and REPowerEU, a plan for energy saving and the production of clean energy. “Let’s use those euros first,” van Leeuwen says, “but the Netherlands will definitely talk about the general contours of that Green Deal business plan.”