Decades later, the EU wants to force companies looking to invest in Europe, while they tap public subsidies, procurement markets and fast-track permitting, to meet stringent terms, many of which mirror those Beijing used for decades.<\/p>\n
Major EU members offered qualified support for the bloc\u2019s flagship industrial plans on Thursday in the first debate over a proposal that has deepened tensions with China.<\/p>\n
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Poland all accepted the broad parameters of the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA)<\/a>, which would put strict conditions on investments into the union from China and other countries, even as they quibbled over red tape, timescales and how open the plan should be to non-EU members.Proposed in March, the act is the crystallisation of what some call a \u201creverse Deng\u201d, after former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping<\/a>, whose efforts to draw foreign manufacturing are often credited with kick-starting China\u2019s economic miracle.<\/p>\n Decades later, the EU wants to force companies looking to invest in Europe, while they tap public subsidies, procurement markets and fast-track permitting, to meet stringent terms, many of which mirror those Beijing used for decades.<\/p>\n
![\"Volkswagen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d0ac2a6a-c179-4835-bbb4-913e01e3c06b_3dbc12ff.jpg\" "\\"Volkswagen")
Volkswagen electric vehicles at the German company\u2019s factory in Wolfsburg. Under the Industrial Accelerator Act, non-EU firms would be required to establish joint ventures with local partners in sectors like EV. Photo: dpa<\/p>\n