The Totalenergies boss has denounced a competitive policy more focused on consumers than businesses and called to create “European champions” by deepening the single market.
While François Villeroy de Galhau, during the economic meetings of Aix-en-Provence, of a green cap “Make Europe Great Again” in response to that of Donald Trump, the CEO of Totalnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, defended a more integrated European Union on Saturday, like what could have existed with the European coal and steel community. He thus criticized the competition policy which prevents the emergence of “European champions”.
“Now you have to say that the only way to get out of it, it is surely not to reason as we want to do today, on the verge of each country. There is a European continent (that) you have to deepen, you have to redo the CECA ”, Exhibited the boss of the French energy giant during the economic meetings of Aix-en-Provence.
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The European Coal and Steel Community (CECA), a treaty signed by six countries including France, Germany and Italy to pool the management of these industries, was one of the EU bases in 1952. “For example, we don’t want to make wind turbines in France. But the Germans like wind turbines: let’s do them in Germany and do nuclear power plants in France and simply, organize the interconnection between countries ”illustrated Patrick Pouyanné. According to him, the need to deepen the single market applies to energy as in financial markets or telecoms. He criticized the European competition policy, too turned towards consumers and insufficiently towards businesses, which, according to him, prevented the emergence of “European champions”.
“To want to always do cheaper, we do not create innovation”
Calling on Europeans to change “Algorithm”he cited the field of telecoms, where a multitude of operators evolve including “None have critical size”or the veto of Brussels to the Alstom-Siemens fusion. “I think consumers in Europe are very happy”with lowers lower than in the United States, but “To want to always do cheaper, we do not create innovation”he castigated. For Patrick Pouyanné, the best way to strengthen the single market is based on “Coalitions of good will” From some countries, as was the case when creating the euro. “Today being 27 is too complicated, (…) We cannot move forward at the same rate”, he said, “Our unanimity model at 27 and wanting to embark everyone cannot be a base to improve European competitiveness”. The big boss also called on political leaders to wear “A vision” pour “Avoiding our Europe turning into a leisure park”.
