(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of workers brought chaos to Brussels on Monday, setting off firecrackers and blocking streets near the European Parliament, in a demonstration to show solidarity with employees from an Audi car factory facing possible closure.
Over 5,000 protesters from across Belgium, and as far away as the Czech Republic, gathered at Brussels’ North train station before marching toward the parliament, brandishing placards in support of Audi and calling for an end to Chinese “dumping” of industrial products. Unions called a national strike, hampering public transport, while police stood ready with water cannons.
The march is the latest sign of growing fears that key European industries will be lost as the continent leads the world in the climate transition and is undercut from cheaper competitors abroad. Audi’s factory in Brussels’ neighborhood of Forest symbolizes those fears by showing that even a facility manufacturing exclusively electric vehicles isn’t safe.
A large number of Audi’s 3,000 workers — 90% of whom are at risk of losing their jobs in the next year — were leading the march in a haze of green and pink smoke — the colors of the main trade unions. The loud bangs of firecrackers echoed the frustration that neither the Belgian government nor the European Union has so far been able to avert the industrial crisis on the continent.
“We are angry,” said Aaron Focon, wearing a t-shirt in support of his father who worked at the Audi factory for 34 years and is now facing the prospect of losing his job. “It’s not normal. The government must wake up and do something.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised a “Clean Industrial Act” within her first 100 days of office, which will aim to support the highest-emitting sectors decarbonize, while staying in Europe. Yet it’s not clear whether it will be accompanied by significant financial support.
The bloc’s executive arm is also planning to impose tariffs on Chinese-made EVs after a probe concluded they unfairly benefit from state subsidies and that carmakers are flooding Europe with excess production. The bloc’s trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, is scheduled to meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday to discuss the probe, ahead of a Sept. 25 vote by EU member states on the plan.
Last week, former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi called on the EU to invest as much as €800 billion ($890 billion) to confront the “existential challenge” of maintaining the bloc’s competitiveness with its rivals.
“Do this, or it’s a slow agony” for Europe, he said.
Meanwhile, business grouprs have been ramping up their demands, calling on the EU to slash red tape and make energy cheaper. The automotive lobby is weighing whether to call on the bloc to delay 2025 emissions targets by two years, with Audi’s parent company Volkswagen AG worst positioned among European car manufacturers for compliance with those rules, and is considering shuttering factories for the first time in its history.
Brussels has found itself increasingly at the center of unrest during the green transition. Thousands of farmers have blocked the city with their tractors in recent months over spiraling costs and what they see as punitive environmental regulation. Von der Leyen responded by shelving some of it and starting so-called strategic dialogs with the sector. Finding a way of enacting her green goals, while keeping core economic sectors on side will be one of the biggest challenges of her next five-year term.
“We all know change can be so scary,” she said in a speech last week. “It takes an effort to leave our old habits behind. It takes courage to sail into uncharted waters.”
--With assistance from Rob Dawson.
(Updates with EU-China meeting in seventh paragraph)
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