APPLiA’s reaction to the Industrial Accelerator Act

APPLiA welcomes the European Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act as a meaningful step to strengthen Europe’s industrial base and scale up low-carbon materials.

But competitiveness does not end at primary production. Europe’s strength lies in its ability to turn materials into high-value, globally competitive products. That transformation happens in downstream manufacturing.

APPLiA’s Director General, Paolo Falcioni, highlighted why recognising this dimension is essential for Europe’s industrial ecosystem:

"If Europe treats steel and aluminium as strategic, it must also treat the industries that transform them as strategic. The home appliance sector anchors demand for European metals, sustains a dense network of suppliers and recyclers, and turns raw materials into high-value, innovative products that households rely on every day. Protecting upstream production while neglecting downstream manufacturing would hollow out the very ecosystem Europe seeks to strengthen.

This is where the concept of “Made in” can make a tangible difference. It has the potential to strengthen industrial resilience, reinforce consumer trust, and reward companies that invest in European production, skills, and sustainability. But “Made in” only works if it is also made easier to manufacture in Europe. A political ambition must be matched by an enabling regulatory and economic environment.

If manufacturers face higher energy costs, fragmented rules, excessive administrative burdens, or slower innovation cycles than global competitors, a label alone will not sustain competitiveness. Strategic autonomy requires coherence: trade policy, energy policy, circular-economy legislation, and industrial funding must align to ensure that production in Europe is not only desirable in principle, but viable in practice".