In normal times, 100 days is short. Now, it feels like an eternity!
During these 100 days, the world has radically changed. Unexpected shifts in alliances and new power balances compel countries to rethink their strategies. This significant history does not erase the ongoing story of daily business closures.
Europe has also transformed.
It has shed its naivety about unfair competitive practices and the necessity to protect its industry.
During these 100 days, the heartbeat of EU activity matched that of its industry, achieving what many deemed impossible.
We embraced clean nuclear energy.
We acknowledged the European preference in markets, roads, and employment, proudly supporting our productive European apparatus and a unique market of 450 million consumers.
We prioritized European-made products in public procurement and foreign investments.
We initiated the greatest simplification exercise ever, easing burdens on businesses, especially SMEs.
We amplified successful practices like joint purchases, a strategy proven with COVID vaccines, now extended to raw materials.
We focused on strategic sectors, vital for vast value chains and millions of jobs, with initiatives for the automotive, steel, and metal industries, followed by others like chemistry, sustainable transport, and aerospace.
Above all, we legislated that decarbonization and reindustrialization go hand in hand, using the Clean Industrial Deal as our economic growth strategy.
100 billion euros have been invested for this cause.
In these times, our best defense is defending our industry, as there are no weapons without steel, no powder without chemistry, no shelters without cement, and no autonomous security systems without batteries.
Rearming Europe means rearming its industry, creating thousands of jobs and added value across Europe.
We started in 100 days and must continue for the next 1700. Making laws is easy; implementing them to change behaviors is much harder. This is my task for the coming months.
These 100 days marked a trend, initiating a new course that I hope will define Europe not just in days, but in decades.