The symbol is as strong as it is worrying: industrial production in the four largest European economies is in the red. According to data from the public agency Eurostat published on Friday 13 September, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have recorded a drop in their production of capital goods and durable consumer goods over the past year. Beyond this first box, the trend affects the entire Old Continent.
Between July 2023 and July 2024, industrial production fell by 2.2% in the euro area and by 1.7% in the European Union (EU). But during this period, the largest declines recorded by Eurostat occurred in Hungary (-6.4%), Germany (-5.5%), Italy (-3.3%) and France (-2.3%). On the other hand, a few, smaller countries are showing increasing results; this is the case of Denmark (+19.8%), Greece (+10.8%) and Finland (+6.4%).
The observed decline demonstrates the lack of competitiveness of European industry in the face of American and Asian competition, at a time when the former president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, expressed his concern in his report presented on Monday 9 September to the European Commission, ” stall “ of the EU in relation to China and the United States; The Twenty-Seven condemn themselves “slow agony” If they don’t react, he said.
European manufacturers are suffering in particular from weak domestic demand, a shortage of skilled labour, but above all from an energy context that has been disrupted since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 and the end of access to cheap Russian gas. “The EU faces average energy prices almost double those of the United States and China. This is a significant and structural handicap in terms of competitiveness and industrial productivity.”explains Raphaël Trotignon, head of the energy and climate department at the Rexecode economic institute.
On the other side of the Rhine, the poor state of industry is reflected in the countries of Central Europe: Romania, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, countries that are highly dependent on German cars. France, for its part, is lagging behind: per capita growth, deficits in foreign trade and public finances… the indicators are bad. The start of reindustrialisation, which has been underway for several years, has experienced a clear slowdown in recent months. A challenge for the new government of Michel Barnier and the arrival at Bercy of Antoine Armand and the Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, appointed on Saturday 21 September.
You have 62.77% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
