Frankfurt, 04 March 2026 – VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann comments on the EU Commission´s proposal of the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) presented today:

• “The long-awaited IAA is not a big breakthrough that will significantly strengthen Europe's competitiveness. The focus on ‘local content’ distracts from Europe’s real challenges – such as high administrative costs, a weakened internal market, and Europe's lack of technological leadership.”

• “Local content rules should be designed with great restraint. A “Buy European” approach is justified if the EU's security interests are specifically at risk and there is no other way to reduce or prevent dependence on strategically relevant technologies and critical raw materials as a precautionary measure.”

• “It is good that trade partners are not to be excluded by ‘local content’ regulations. This must be maintained in the further political process in order to support the EU's important efforts for free trade.”

• “On a positive note, the use of green steel remains limited to a restricted range of applications. However, the creation of lead markets must not place an additional burden on the machinery and equipment manufacturing technologies that are essential for achieving the EU's climate targets.”

The VDMA represents 3500 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros. Around 80 percent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.