European governments should channel public money into clean tech by buying equity in companies rather than giving direct subsidies, the EU’s competition chief has said.
Teresa Ribera told the Financial Times that while EU state aid rules restricted public subsidies to companies, there were still other ways to help Europe’s emerging green tech compete with China and the US.
Ribera and her powerful competition directorate have pushed back against an effort led by Stéphane Séjourné, the French commissioner for industry, to allow governments to “Buy European” and to grant exemptions from state aid rules to solar panel, wind turbine and battery producers.