Leaders | Green protectionism

How the EU should respond to American subsidies

Instead of imitating them, it should play to its strengths

21 February 2023, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rostock: A hub for the turbine of a 6 MW class wind turbine is being worked on at Nordex Energy. A ceremony marks the official start of series production at Nordex of the 6 MW class turbines, the company's most powerful large turbine. Photo: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa — Image: dpa

Mar 23rd 2023

This year the European Union will celebrate a momentous achievement: its single market turns 30. The unfettered movement of goods, people, services and money within the bloc, together with an openness to foreign trade and investment, has served the eu remarkably well. But, among the leaders of member countries who had gathered in Brussels to talk about the single market as The Economist was published, the mood was more anxious than jubilant. There is a nagging fear that the eu’s economic model may no longer be working.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Play to your strengths ”