European response to deindustrialisation

24.7.2020

Question for written answer E-004395/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Emmanuel Maurel (GUE/NGL)

The decision by the Daimler-Benz concern to give up its plant in Hambach, Moselle, where electric vehicles from the Smart range are produced, and in all probability sell it to the British firm Ineos, which would use the facility to build petrol-engined SUVs, is a warning signal we cannot ignore. This radical production shift will deprive the European Union, a world leader in the manufacture of electric vehicles, of know-how vital to the fight against climate change. The decision is all the more damaging because the Daimler-Benz group received European funding to build the plant in the Moselle region and safeguard local industrial activity. The plant’s workforce has already made significant sacrifices and does not deserve to be treated so shabbily.

What steps does the Commission plan to take to keep this know-how in Europe?

What conditions will it impose to prevent major concerns from selling plants for which they have received significant amounts of State aid?