EU’s Chemical Collapse Was Made in Brussels

The European Commission spent years piling climate targets, chemical regulations and reporting obligations onto an industry already struggling with some of the world’s highest energy costs. At the same time, Europe became more dependent on imported energy and increasingly exposed to cheaper chemicals from China, the Middle East and the United States. Brussels eventually discovered “competitiveness,” but only after plants started closing. The problem was not one regulation. It was the cumulative absence of industrial pragmatism.

“Brussels officials spent more time worrying about the Berlaymont Cafeteria than Europe’s competitiveness, factories and jobs.”

— Eni Versalis, Sheriff of the Berlaymont Cafeteria