EVs, state aid, mergers: MEPs ask Ribera to clarify views on controversial issues

Teresa Ribera will be asked to clarify her views on deeply controversial economy-related topics, including Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), state aid, and EU competition policy, ahead of her parliamentary hearing as Spain’s commissioner-designate, according to draft committee questions seen by Euractiv.

The socialist politician is poised to take over the Commission’s powerful competition portfolio and is expected to oversee Europe’s green transition and industrial revival. She will likely be asked by the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) to explain her position on the EU executive’s recent decision to impose additional duties of up to 35.3% on China-made EVs.

“What is your view on the Commission’s findings on unfair subsidisation of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China and the provisional countervailing duties imposed on imports of those vehicles?” one question reads.

ITRE will also ask Ribera to provide written answers to questions about the similarly divisive issue of state aid rules – particularly whether she believes that the EU’s current state aid framework can ensure “fair competition” across the single market.

Both the EV and state aid issues are bitterly contested by many European capitals.

In a crucial vote held last week, Germany, the EU’s largest economy, opposed the Commission’s EV tariff proposal but could not muster the requisite number of votes to block the duties.

France – whose proposed commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, has been asked by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to work with Ribera to develop a new “Clean Industrial Deal” in the first 100 days of the new mandate – voted for the duties, while Spain abstained.

Meanwhile, smaller member states have repeatedly argued that the EU’s current state aid rules unfairly favour Europe’s larger countries, which have the fiscal firepower to support their industries and households.

In a recent interview with El País, Ribera was highly guarded on the EV case, claiming that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s recent call for the Commission to “reconsider” its position is “compatible with the policies that Brussels is promoting.”

“We need a thriving and innovative industry. At the same time, we must avoid entering into trade wars – with China and with anyone,” she said.

However, Ribera expressed firmer support for the position of smaller member states on state aid rules.

She also strongly endorsed criticisms of EU state aid policy by former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, who argue in two recent reports that the current system “distorts” the single market and should be recalibrated in favour of greater EU-level investment.

“There is one aspect of the Draghi and Letta reports that I particularly like: state aid has traditionally been dominated by the national interest, and we must evolve towards projects of European interest,” Ribera said.

ECON hones in on competition policy

Echoing ITRE’s line of questioning, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) – which will preside over Ribera’s hearing in early November along with ITRE and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) – will ask Ribera about whether she believes EU countries “diverging fiscal space” could trigger the “fragmentation of the single market”.

ECON will also ask Ribera, a trained lawyer, for more detailed answers about the future of EU competition policy, including the Commission’s recent push to encourage mergers that allow European companies to compete with their Chinese and US counterparts.

“What changes might the ‘new approach to competition policy’ involve, and how can it be better aligned with industrial policy?” one question reads: a reference to von der Leyen’s mission letter to Ribera published last month, which calls for a “new approach to competition policy” that “is more supportive of [EU] companies scaling up in global markets”.

Ribera has previously expressed strong support for companies’ ability to “scale up” across the EU, proposals that also feature prominently in the Draghi and Letta reports.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Ribera suggested that the EU’s competition policy should “evolve” away from the more explicitly anti-merger policies of her predecessor, the liberal Dane Margrethe Vestager.

“Margrethe has done a great job, and we need to see to what extent this great job needs to evolve . . . step by step,” Ribera said.

The Committee questions will be finalised later this week and must be formally sent to Ribera by Thursday (10 October). Ribera must provide her written replies by 22 October.

The hearings will take place between 4 and 12 November, and the new Commission is set to enter into force by 1 December. However, this latter date could be pushed back if some nominated commissioners are not approved by MEPs.

[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe]