🚨️ Industry: Paris and Rome come together to defend “made in Europe”

Paris, July 23, 2025 (AFP) - French Ministers of Economy Eric Lombard and Industry Marc Ferracci will meet with Italian Business Minister Adolfo Urso in Paris on Thursday in order to seek an “aligned position” of the two countries on European industry, in danger, and “made in Europe”, in the words of Bercy on Wednesday.

“The objective with the Italians is to rally them to the battles for the protection of European industries, in order to be able to bring them jointly with them to Brussels”, explained the cabinets of the two French ministers to journalists.

Among the subjects that will be raised on Thursday, the issue of European steel, which is threatened in its survival against China and the United States, for which Bercy refers to “exacerbated competition” or even “unfair”.

The European Commission did not say it wanted to present a legislative proposal in September to reduce steel imports into Europe by up to more than 50% via various trade measures, which France defends.

The ministers of the two countries should also talk about cars, with the “common objective” of “strengthening demand for clean vehicles with European content”, and addressing the issue of “European preference”, for example in public procurement.

“Italy is getting closer and closer to France on a certain number of positions”, estimated Bercy, who is still talking about nuclear power, which Italy wants to relaunch and for which it defends, like France, that it should be treated similar to that of renewable energies in European legislation.

“The issue of competitiveness and technological neutrality is one of the subjects on which we converge with Italians”, agreed the offices of French ministers.

The meeting on Thursday is being held in Bercy as part of a treaty, known as the Quirinal Treaty, signed between the two countries in 2021, which provides for annual meetings between ministers.

At the beginning of June, Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron displayed their “common commitment” and their “strong convergence” during a long one-on-one meeting in Rome to ease the tensions of recent weeks, which have crystallized since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

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