BRUSSELS, Sept 13 — The European Union needs an industrial policy that would keep it at the forefront of critical and emerging technologies and needs common EU funding for that, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said today.

"It is an economic and national security imperative to preserve a European edge on critical and emerging technologies. This European industrial policy also requires common European funding,” she told the European Parliament.

As part of its proposal to modify the EU’s long-term budget, the Commission proposed in June to create the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), which would help stimulate private investment in critical technologies.

The STEP fund, a much less ambitious version of the originally intended EU Sovereignty Fund the Commission proposed last year, would leverage some existing budget funds and an extra €10 billion (RM50 billion) to generate €160 billion of investment.

"With STEP we can boost, leverage and steer EU funds to invest in everything from microelectronics to quantum computing and AI. From biotech to clean tech. Our companies need this support now — so I urge for a quick agreement on our budget proposal,” von der Leyen told parliament. — Reuters