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Reposted by Wester van Gaal

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 21h

China's export controls may end the era of trying to de-risk from China using Chinese technology

Excellent piece on the fraught position of Europe's battery industry, much of which is still reliant on China, by @hjesanderson

China’s export controls may end the era of ‘de-risking from China’ with Chinese technology

Beijing’s battery export controls threaten the West’s push for clean energy independence

open.substack.com

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Tom Jenkins @tomoljenkins.bsky.social · 22h

@sabineweyand.bsky.social tells COREPER that EU will not drop rules requiring American firms to produce plans to fight climate change and end environmental and human rights violations in their supply chains. Trouble is @ec.europa.eu is already emasculating the CSDDD www.politico.eu/article/eu-t...

EU refuses to bow to Trump demands to tear up business rules

Brussels has signaled it won’t yield to U.S. pressure to ignite a bonfire of green regulations as part of their trade deal, a top official tells diplomats.

www.politico.eu

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 1d

"The best way out is to grow our own [European] market, which is still very sizeable and has the potential to create more demand than it currently does."

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 1d

For the non-German speakers good take from Deutsche Welle on German autos with some arguments from my side.

amp.dw.com/en/german-ch...

German chancellor hosts auto summit as carmakers bleed jobs – DW – 10/09/2025

German automakers won fresh incentives to revive demand for electric vehicles during crunch talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Berlin is under pressure to act as German sales slump while Chinese ri...

amp.dw.com

Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

costly sacrifice (letting your lead on the file resign in protest…..!) for almost no gain. political mistake imo for the @socialistsanddemocrats.eu to let themselves be blackmailed like this over and over again by the @eppgroup.bsky.social.

www.euractiv.com/news/sociali...

www.euractiv.com

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

In batteries, the EU and member states are doing a lot, but my sense is that bringing together skilled workers at the scale seen in China would require a level of coordination, investment and demand support that our governments simply aren’t used to.

Planning to dig into this over the weekend.

The scale-up gap: Financial market constraints holding back innovative firms in the European Union

Closing the gap in finance for scale-up companies is essential for the European Union to maintain its edge in technology and thrive amid the green and digital transitions.

www.eib.org

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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 2d

Make sure to read this extremely insightful analysis by @zichen.bsky.social on China, geopolitics, electrotech manufacturing and more.

Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting commentary by @zichen.bsky.social on CATL's battery project in Zaragoza, and a kind of response to a recent FT piece which included the quote "They’ll take the technology and the money.”
open.substack.com/pub/pekingno...

On CATL’s Spain Project, A Few Modest Additions to the FT’s Reporting

Supplementary context on workforce composition in Germany and African precedents of Chinese investments.

open.substack.com

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Lotfi El Hamidi @lotfielhamidi.bsky.social · 2d

Het is woestmakend: deze deal kon zeker een jaar geleden gesloten worden, als de westerse (of vooral Amerikaanse) druk maar werd opgevoerd. De waanzin, de gedoogde genocide mocht een jaar doorgaan. En nu het gore lef deze deal ‘betekenisvol’ te noemen. Het zwijgen was betekenisvol.

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

Anyway, not sure why I thought I needed to write a thread on this, but here it is. Interesting developments that I think are under reported on in most EU media.

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of other interesting stuff here too, including references to research on Chinese projects in Africa suggesting that most workers on those sites are adequately paid locals.

On CATL’s Spain Project, A Few Modest Additions to the FT’s Reporting

Supplementary context on workforce composition in Germany and African precedents of Chinese investments.

www.pekingnology.com

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

My question is: how secretive can an assembly line really be?

Even if Chinese battery tech is ahead, an EU production site isn’t a static environment where workers clock in, press a button, and leave without learning anything.

Once production starts, transfer of knowledge seems inherent?

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

At the same time (and this is a point Zichen also makes) much of what makes a factory competitive is process knowledge (a term from Dan Wang’s excellent Breakneck).

Seen this way, China’s edge comes from superior and faster on-the-floor innovation, not just better tech.

danwang.co/breakneck/

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future | Dan Wang

Announcing my book; whalelore; Austrian Catholicism; the legacy of Moses and Rickover; Yunnan; influencer culture; how historians work.

danwang.co

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

To prevent a subservient relationship, Bruegel suggests we need strong screening methods. That is probably wise. www.bruegel.org/newsletter/w...

What Europe must learn from China’s ascent in critical technologies

www.bruegel.org

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sceptical Beijing is sitting on massive breakthrough 'secrets' in the way the FT story seems to suggest.

But lets run with it: the worry is that it will be left to European workers to mindlessly assemble tech developed in China without there being any kind of tech transfer.

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

Not an experienced 'China watcher', but EU anxiety about Chinese battery giants opening factories in Europe, (airdropping in 2000 Chinese workers, and extracting value without sharing their tech ‘crown jewels’) has always seemed a bit exaggerated to me.

www.ft.com/content/0f26...

China sends 2,000 workers to build battery power in Europe

Massive labour import to Spain spotlights EU’s dependence on Beijing’s EV tech

www.ft.com

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting commentary by @zichen.bsky.social on CATL's battery project in Zaragoza, and a kind of response to a recent FT piece which included the quote "They’ll take the technology and the money.”
open.substack.com/pub/pekingno...

On CATL’s Spain Project, A Few Modest Additions to the FT’s Reporting

Supplementary context on workforce composition in Germany and African precedents of Chinese investments.

open.substack.com

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Thu Nguyen @onethuthree.bsky.social · 17d

Driven by fear of the far right, the EU is losing its compass, whether on migration, climate or Gaza. By undermining its own principles, Europe weakens its global position and risks losing not just dignity but political agency.

With @jannikjansen.bsky.social:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If Europe keeps placating its own far right, how can it possibly stand up to Trump? | Thu Nguyen and Jannik Jansen

European leaders’ weakness is undermining the democratic principles on which the EU was built, say Thu Nguyen and Jannik Jansen from the Jacques Delors Centre

www.theguardian.com

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Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 2d

German auto summit tomorrow.

The sole focus on the EU combustion engine phase-out, which is 10 years away, is baffling because German cars have a demand problem today

Berlin worries a new EV subsidy scheme would be fiscally too expensive.

But demand-side support is a fiscal no-brainer here.

1/

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Benjamin Braun @benbraun.bsky.social · 2d

If profits shape the energy transition we need to understand the biggest profit event this century: the 2022 oil and gas price spike.

Very happy our paper is now out in Energy Research & Social Science. Thread by lead-author @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social 👇

Gregor Semieniuk @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social · 2d

🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

River or sankey diagram showing the allocation of profits from global oil and gas companies to quantiles of the US wealth size distribution via financial system intermediaries, such as asset managers, and categories of ultimate beneficiaries, such as business owners, pension funds and shareholders in listed companies. The scale is hundreds of billions of US dollars, and ultimately 50.4% of profits reaching the US personal wealth distribution go to the richest 1% of households.

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euobserver — EU news that matters @euobserver.com · 2d

The centre-right European People's Party is siding with far-right groups to slash EU sustainability and corporate due diligence rules, while business leaders and former EU heavyweights are urging to keep climate and human rights reporting rules intact.

EPP ready to join far-right in watering down EU sustainability rules

The centre-right European People's Party is siding with far-right groups to slash EU sustainability and corporate due diligence rules, while business leaders and former EU heavyweights are urging to keep climate and human rights reporting rules intact.

euobserver.com

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Wester van Gaal @westervangaal.bsky.social · 2d

In the run-up to the 2023 election, which he won, much was made in the media of Wilders’ “milder” tone.

“He is returning to that tone....I’m willing to bet all my money that in the next campaign, he’s going for Milders II.” June 2025

euobserver.com/eu-political...

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 3d

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 3d

solar and wind generated more electricity that coal for the first time ever in the first half of 2025. that's the good shit ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025 | Ember

Solar and wind outpaced demand growth in the first half of 2025, as renewables overtook coal’s share in the global electricity mix.

ember-energy.org

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euobserver — EU news that matters @euobserver.com · 3d

A Dutch appeals court has rejected X’s request for a gag order against a Dutch legal scholar — in a case challenging 'shadowbanning' under EU privacy and Digital Services Act rules.

Dutch court rejects X’s bid to silence data privacy claimant

A Dutch appeals court has rejected X’s request for a gag order against a Dutch legal scholar — in a case challenging 'shadowbanning' under EU privacy and Digital Services Act rules.

euobserver.com

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Benjamin Braun @benbraun.bsky.social · 4d

“a democracy dogged by fear of bond market vigilantes is unhealthy.”

“independence is what you make of it. And in the wake of the gilt market crisis of September 2022, relations between the Bank of England and the UK government need a reset.”
on.ft.com/3IRMPke

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Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 5d

1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy

“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.

defenddemocracy.eu

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