Spain’s new Minister of Industry Hector Gomez Hernandez walks outside Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
MADRID, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Spain is optimistic about the prospects of attracting new investment into its automotive sector following the so-called Euro 7 agreement, which watered down proposed rules on pollutant emissions rules for new cars in Europe, Trade Minister Hector Gomez told Reuters on Thursday.
EU ministers last month approved the rules under Spain’s rotating presidency of the European Council, a position which Gomez said was giving “an important impulse to Spain’s stance on many aspects”, including on the Euro 7. It holds the presidency until the end of the year.
“We are very optimistic about this transition process (to electric vehicles) and the impetus it gives to our economic and industrial activity,” he said, adding that Spain was meeting all its milestones to qualify projects for billions in EU aid.
Spain is Europe’s second-largest car producing nation behind Germany.
The government is in the final stages of allocating 1.4 billion euros from the recovery funds for the creation of battery factories, expecting to mobilise a total investment of almost six billion euros.
Among these potential projects are a gigafactory planned by the multinational automaker Stellantis , which is working with the Spanish government to obtain financing, and one being discussed with Tesla.
India’s Tata has recently opted to have a factory in Britain, which Gomez accepting the advantage of “very competitive investment frameworks” in Britain.
Still, he believes that “Spain offers all the conditions to invest and develop in the short and long term”.
At least 30% of the aid requested to invest in the Spanish battery manufacturing industry comes from foreign investors, including EU companies.
Gomez, who on Friday will chair a meeting of EU trade ministers in Valencia, also praised a recent deal on the reform of the bloc’s power markets “a giant step forward that strengthens the industrialisation of Europe”.
Reporting by Belén Carreño, editing by Andrei Khalip and Alistair Bell
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