I-Com: Europe risks falling behind in the energy, automotive, and pharmaceuticals sectors

Brussels – The European Union is struggling to compete with China and the United States across all strategic sectors: energy, automotive, connectivity, and pharmaceuticals. This is the picture that emerges from the report “From Dialogue to Action: Promoting Europe’s Competitiveness”, presented today (2 July) to the European Parliament by the think-tank I-Com, led by the economist Stefano da Empoli. 

When it comes to energy innovation, the gap with China is already very wide. In 2023, 58 per cent of energy-related patents worldwide were granted to Chinese entities, with a share exceeding 50 per cent in almost all technology sectors: solar, wind, nuclear, smart grids, and energy storage. The EU is not only lagging behind China, but is also trailing South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Added to this is the issue of industrial electricity prices, which between March 2023 and March 2026 remained consistently higher in the EU than in China and the US, where they are between two and three times lower. 

In the automotive sector, which directly and indirectly employs 13.6 million people in the EU, 2025 saw declines in both car imports and exports, down 3.2 per cent and 6.2 per cent year-on-year, respectively. The trade surplus fell to €76 billion, the lowest figure since 2021. Of particular note was the 30.7 per cent increase in imports of Chinese vehicles, with one million vehicles manufactured in China entering the EU market. Battery-electric cars accounted for 17.4 per cent of the market, but hybrids remain the preferred choice of European consumers, accounting for 34.5 per cent. 

In terms of connectivity, 11 EU countries still cover fewer than 80 per cent of households with fixed broadband: among these, Italy stands at 71 per cent, Germany at 77 per cent, and Greece at 46 per cent. As for 5G coverage in rural areas, the EU stands at 79.6 per cent, compared with 82 per cent in the US, 85 per cent in China and 92 per cent in India. 

The most critical issue for Italy concerns medicines. US tariffs on the European pharmaceutical sector amount to around $18.6 billion a year, of which $1.7 billion comes from Italian imports alone. Farmindustria estimates a negative impact of €2.5 billion, which could rise to €4 billion when currency fluctuations are taken into account. Added to this are the effects of the US “Most Favoured Nation” policy, which ties drug prices in the US to the lowest level applied in a basket of advanced countries, mostly European: in the first ten months of its implementation, new drug launches in EU markets fell by 35 per cent. Italy has been the hardest-hit country, with a 66.7 per cent reduction in new launches, from 99 to 33 products. 

The report concludes that the energy, transport, and life sciences sectors face the same fundamental challenge: without a coordinated approach that links climate policy, industrial policy, and trade diversification, Europe risks becoming dependent not only on imported fossil fuels but also on technologies, raw materials, and strategic inputs produced elsewhere.

Article written with the assistance of AI.