Against the background of the crisis at the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt In Brussels, Sweden called for more support for the production of batteries in the EU. The financial difficulties at Northvolt are not a sign of “a Swedish crisis, but of a European crisis,” said Ebba Busch (37), Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Energy and Economics Minister, on Thursday in Brussels. She warned that the EU should not leave the battery market to Chinese suppliers.
The EU should not only invest money in new startups, but also in “existing companies that we want to give the opportunity to expand.” She also called on the new EU Commission to speed up approval procedures and present a strategy for more investments.
“International competition is not based on fair rules of the game,” said a joint statement from Sweden, Germany and France. As in the solar and wind industries, numerous Europeans are throwing China also proposes to give its battery manufacturers an unfair competitive advantage with state subsidies. The statement continued that European battery production would make the EU more independent in the production of electric cars, for example.
European battery production is “enormously important,” said State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Bernhard Kluttig, especially for the automotive industry. The manager magazine recently analyzed the battery cell disaster in Europe’s auto industry
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Kluttig reiterated that the federal government therefore continues to support Northvolt. The German state wants to contribute around 900 million euros to the Swedish company’s construction of a battery factory in Schleswig-Holstein. Construction is likely to be delayed due to Northvolt’s financial difficulties. According to Swedish media reports, the company’s debts amount to $5.84 billion (5.5 billion euros).
In recent months, the Swedish government has repeatedly spoken out against providing Northvolt with financial support from the state. For example, Busch told the Swedish broadcaster SVT in September that there was currently no reason to provide the company with new funds beyond what had flowed through an industrial and climate support program. It is uncertain whether this attitude will change as a result of the Chapter 11 proceedings.