Airbus CEO criticises ‘unmanageable’ EU regulations

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury has called on the EU to rethink its “unmanageable” regulations, which he says are making it difficult to attract investment to Europe.

Faury said the aviation industry is committed to decarbonisation, which he called the sector’s “licence to grow”, but the way the EU has pursued its goals is “counterproductive”.

“When we’re speaking to investors, the question we’re receiving today – all industries, it’s not specific to aerospace – is, ‘Is there still a business case to invest in Europe? Can you tell us why we would invest in Europe?’ And actually, the answer is becoming very difficult,” he said.

Faury made the comments in response to Beatriz Yordi, a director in DG Climate Action at the European Commission, who called on industry to clarify what it needs in terms of simplification.

“I’m sure we all agree we need to simplify things, but of course simplify does not mean deregulate, because also the regulation could offer innovation opportunities,” Yordi said. She gave the example of the €40 billion Innovation Fund, which is financed by EU Emissions Trading System revenues.

“I think we have had a huge over-regulation in the past years, so if deregulation means coming a step backwards and making it more digestible, yes I am in favour of deregulation, but I would not call it deregulation,” Faury told the European Civil Aeronautics Summit on Tuesday. The event was organised by the Aerospace, Security, and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), of which he is the president.

Faury pointed to recent EU rules on data sharing and cybersecurity and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which increased reporting requirements for companies. “As a leader I’ve been spending a third of my time in the past year on CSRD,” he said. “We’re just making European companies more vulnerable with the CSRD.”

Sustainability and profitability must go hand in hand, he said. “What has been put in place for decarbonisation is disabling a lot of business cases,” and therefore will not support reaching the objective of decarbonisation.

“We can’t have the Green Deal, an agenda to decarbonise, if there is not a single euro that can be justified in investing for future technologies that will decarbonise and answer the needs of consumers,” Faury said.

Clean Industrial Deal

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to present a proposal for a Clean Industrial Deal within the first 100 days of the new mandate, to channel investment in infrastructure and industry, with a focus on energy-intensive industries.

There are currently few details about what this will involve, but it should address areas including access to finance, high energy prices, and the need to speed up planning, tendering, and permitting. Innovation will also be part of the proposal, Yordi said.

Faury believes the Clean Industrial Deal will provide the opportunity to link both decarbonisation and competitiveness, but he said it would be “premature” to get excited about the plans.

On Wednesday, the aviation industry sent an open letter to the European Commission, Parliament and member states, calling for them to formulate an EU aviation industrial strategy as part of the Clean Industrial Deal.

This should include consistent EU research funding, better coordination of national research budgets, and measures to improve access to finance, says the letter from the Destination 2050 industry alliance.