EU rebuffs European solar industry’s plea for emergency help to fight cheap China imports

Use of trade weapons must be ‘weighed against’ bloc’s lofty climate goals that need affordable panels for green transition, says top finance official

Amid claims of ‘unfair Chinese competition’, EU notes forced-labour ban targeting products from Xinjiang and coming Net-Zero Industry Act

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Mairead McGuinness, the European commissioner for financial services, speaks at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 3:50am, 6 Feb 2024

Brussels has rebuffed the European solar industry’s request for emergency measures to combat a surge in cheap imports from China.

Any use of trade weapons must be “weighed against” the European Union’s lofty climate goals, a senior commission official said on Monday, days after an industry group warned solar-panel manufacturers would go bankrupt without urgent support.

“The EU needs to have access to affordable solar panels to fuel the green transition and unlock the economic opportunities,” Mairead McGuinness, the European commissioner for financial services, told a debate in the European Parliament.

“Given that we currently rely to a very important degree on imports to reach EU solar-deployment targets, any potential measure needs to be weighed against the objectives we have set ourselves when it comes to the energy transition,” the Irish official said.

Sheep graze next to solar panels at Germany’s largest solar park, Weesow-Willmersdorf, in the town of Werneuchen last September. Nearly all the solar panels deployed in Europe are imported, mostly from China. Photo: Reuters

Like other parts of the West, Europe is wrangling with the challenge of weaning itself off dependence on China for solar panels while also boosting green-energy production.