Brussels – Here they call the rentrée. As work resumes in Brussels, the Democratic Party is placing industry and employment at the heart of its priorities for the new political year. These priorities are being presented by the Democratic Party’s head of delegation to the European Parliament, Nicola Zingaretti, who is focusing in particular on the negotiations on the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the European Commission’s proposal to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry. “It is a positive move and one of interest to the Union,” but “it needs to be amended,” Zingaretti argues. Among the points to be reviewed are the concept of Made in the EU, the implementation timetable and incentives, as well as the inclusion of “industrial sectors that are very important today but which are currently excluded.”
The Industrial Accelerator Act, presented by the Commission on 4 March 2026, aims to strengthen European manufacturing and the EU’s strategic autonomy. Among other measures, the proposal introduces the ‘Buy European’ criteria in public procurement for certain strategic sectors and aims to speed up authorisations for new industrial facilities, as well as strengthen controls on foreign investment in sectors deemed strategic.
“This is a critical moment for the European manufacturing industry,” the PD’s head of delegation warns. To define its position, the party has met with “over 110 Italian companies,” “all the employers’ organisations in the labour market,” and the trade unions. The aim, Zingaretti explains, is to formulate a position “in close alignment with our country’s interests.”
Hence, the defence of Europe as a means of addressing the industry’s difficulties. “With Europe, we have a chance. By destroying Europe, this opportunity for Italian industry – or for the industries of European countries – effectively ceases to exist,” he said. The PD’s stance, he adds, is “a pro-European battle to change Europe, not a recklessly destructive one,” because weakening it “would leave Italian industries and Italian workers to fend for themselves”.
Among the priorities for the new political season is also the issue of war. “We are obviously concerned,” says Zingaretti, describing an atmosphere in which the risk of a “frightening” escalation seems to be growing “every day, in every action, in many corners of the globe.” For this reason, he argues, Europe must act “for peace.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
