On November 29, more than 400 solar industry companies in Europe launched a joint appeal urging policymakers to stop trade investigations that may lead to the EU imposing tariffs on imported solar products.

The call comes ahead of a meeting on Friday between solar industry chiefs, national ministers and EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to review measures to bring production back to Europe.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, the European photovoltaic industry association, said: "Ahead of Friday's industry roundtable, we received worrying signals that the measures will include an investigation into import and export restrictions."

European solar power companies participating in the joint call said signatories include 18 manufacturers and 28 national associations and research institutions. All parties agreed that tariff restrictions should not include imported photovoltaic products.

The EU's goal is for the EU's installed solar capacity to reach 600 GW by 2030, approximately three times that of 2022, and deployment needs to be significantly accelerated. The group said tariffs would only slow the process. They also expressed support for restructuring some solar manufacturing to meet the EU's target of 30GW of production capacity by 2025.

Previously, the EU set restrictions on the import of Chinese solar panels, cells and silicon wafers from 2013 to 2018. Now, more than 90% of silicon wafers and components come from China.

The EU has launched a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles and will review foreign subsidies in the wind power industry to ensure that clean technology manufacturing takes place in Europe and reduce dependence on China. (This article is compiled from WNEWS247, please indicate the source when reprinting)