“These are worrying results,” says De Jong. He points out that completing a survey and actually moving a business are two different things. Also, according to him, companies “never get too excited” about the business climate in this type of research. “The grass is always greener on the other side. But even if you take that into consideration, this makes sense. The business climate for industrial companies in Europe is not improving.”
Inflation Reduction Act
That’s what the American is like Inflation Reduction Act, with which the domestic industry in America is strongly supported, to have a pull effect. Europe still doesn’t have a good response to that package of measures, says De Jong, ‘although the question is what the response should be. We have often pursued industrial policy in the past, and it has more often been a failure than a success. The question is whether an industrial policy like the one Macron wants is the right answer to this”.
Energy costs in Europe are higher than in the rest of the world and, according to De Jong, this difference is likely to become even greater due to European policy in the energy transition. “And that makes companies think.”