{"id":41035,"date":"2026-02-11T05:06:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41035"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:06:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:06:45","slug":"swedish-pm-very-sceptical-of-french-push-to-buy-european","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41035","title":{"rendered":"Swedish PM \u2018very sceptical\u2019 of French push to Buy European"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Stay informed with free updates<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Simply sign up to the <!-- -->EU economy<!-- --> myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=bc7663cd-aa82-457e-8f49-73dc3c712ec4&amp;concept-id=1a13ac9e-2e21-4c24-aad8-fb084b1c5ccd\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has warned that Europe cannot be successful by adopting a protectionist agenda as promoted by France, ahead of an EU summit focused on how to revive the European economy and reverse widespread deindustrialisation.<\/p>\n<p>French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b5b248a4-c83b-45d9-b676-2dd2ee12597c\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">Buy European policy<\/a> that would require certain key goods to be made within the bloc despite higher costs. But Sweden, one of the most vocal advocates for an open economy, free trade and deeper integration of the bloc\u2019s single market, has balked at this proposal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe basic idea of trying to protect European business, if that is the purpose of Buy European, to try to avoid trading with or partner with other countries, then I\u2019m very sceptical,\u201d Kristersson told the FT in an interview. \u201cWe need to be able to compete because of quality and because of innovation, not because we try to protect the European markets.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>EU leaders will meet on Thursday to brainstorm ideas to save the continent\u2019s ailing economy as it comes under pressure from cheap Chinese imports, US tariffs and painfully high energy prices.<\/p>\n<p>But the Swedish premier said that a more protectionist agenda would not help: \u201cWe do not want to protect European businesses that are basically not competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kristersson acknowledged that EU companies faced tough competition from China due to slowing consumer spending in Europe and vast subsidies doled out by Beijing, and that the bloc had been slow to respond to companies\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"yueoxyrz\" class=\"n-content-image n-content-image--full\" data-component=\"image-set\"><picture><source media=\"(min-width: 700px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Aab18a24e-81f8-404b-b9eb-1f2fd6c65636?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=1 1x,https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Aab18a24e-81f8-404b-b9eb-1f2fd6c65636?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=2 2x,https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Aab18a24e-81f8-404b-b9eb-1f2fd6c65636?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=700&amp;dpr=3 3x\" width=\"2290\" height=\"1527\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 490px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Ab5d46421-3b36-45c9-8580-5a3b3ebe6f17?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=490&amp;dpr=1 1x,https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Ab5d46421-3b36-45c9-8580-5a3b3ebe6f17?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=490&amp;dpr=2 2x,https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/ftcms%3Ab5d46421-3b36-45c9-8580-5a3b3ebe6f17?source=next-article&amp;fit=scale-down&amp;quality=highest&amp;width=490&amp;dpr=3 3x\" width=\"1527\" height=\"1527\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"n-content-picture__caption o3-editorial-typography-caption\"><span>Emmanuel Macron talks to workers at ArcelorMittal\u2019s Mardyck Electryck steel plant in northern France on Tuesday <\/span><span> <!-- -->\u00a9 Benoit Tessier\/Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The phaseout of cheap Russian gas following Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring in 2022 at the same time as the EU\u2019s ambitious climate agenda cut into business margins, causing hundreds of plant closures and curtailing industry\u2019s ability to invest.<\/p>\n<p>Progress has been slow because of competing national interests and limited bandwidth for issues beyond Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and hostile bid to take over Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory.<\/p>\n<p>Kristersson admitted that there would be \u201ccompeting national traditions and political wills\u201d around the table on Thursday, which would stymie efforts to find a common path forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[From] a lot of European businesses the main objection I quite often hear is that things just simply take too much time,\u201d Kristersson said. \u201cSometimes Europe is exactly as slow as the Americans suspect we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a lack of common action right now\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. the world as it is right now also demands us to be more \u2014 I won\u2019t use the word sovereign \u2014 but step up in different ways.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Kristersson said he was broadly supportive of a call by former ECB president Mario Draghi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/e5206e5e-bd72-45d6-85ec-8faa1c53dfcb\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">for \u201cpragmatic federalism\u201d inside the EU<\/a> whereby coalitions of countries go ahead with decisions blocked by one or a minority of states for political reasons \u2014 as has been the case with Hungary. <\/p>\n<p>European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen this week also backed that concept by saying there should be more \u201cenhanced co-operation\u201d where there is no consensus among the bloc\u2019s 27 members. <\/p>\n<p>The Swedish premier said: \u201cIf we are to wait for everybody to come on board in everything I think it would simply become too slow. I do think that \u2018coalitions of the willing\u2019 is a way forward, without at all neglecting the fact that\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009it can collide with internal market rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>European businesses have become increasingly dejected at the lack of progress in advancing decades-old plans to cut barriers in the single market and improve intra-EU trade and investment. Industry chiefs will gather in Antwerp on Wednesday to air their woes to EU leaders and commissioners ahead of the Thursday gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is absolutely a very fair and legitimate lack of patience right now in European business,\u201d said Kristersson. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c[But] it\u2019s not to say that the rest of the world is perfect and Europe is not. Absolutely not,\u201d he added. \u201cWe have our advantages as well. I think we should build more on those advantages. And the biggest one we have is the internal market.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/bc7663cd-aa82-457e-8f49-73dc3c712ec4\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the EU economy myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":41036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}