Ready for action: The “Gigafabrik” in Billy-Berclau is also intended to bring political peace to a crisis region.
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The new European industrial policy continues to take shape: the first joint battery cell factory is opened. The French state is funding the investment in the hundreds of millions.
French Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire once historicized the fact that European industrial policy was re-established in 2019 with his then German counterpart Peter Altmaier (CDU) as a “Copernican revolution by two Galileos, France and Germany”. This included the realization that future technologies such as “green” hydrogen technology, electric car batteries or semiconductors could not exist without partial public funding.
Almost four years later, the new industrial policy continues to take shape. The ceremonial opening of the first Franco-German battery cell factory is planned for this Tuesday, which will be attended by several French ministers, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Italy’s “Minister for Companies and ‘Made in Italy'”, Adolfo Urso, in Billy-Berclau in northern France to be expected. The CEO of Mercedes, Ola Källenius, has also confirmed his participation after his trip to the Formula 1 race in Monaco, the same applies to the bosses of the car manufacturer Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, and the energy group Totalenergies, Patrick Pouyanné.