News Article
AFASE speaks out on free trade at EU PVSEC
The Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy (AFASE) has warned against putting up protectionist walls around the European solar market.
With more than 130 members AFASE has become the most prominent voice of companies being united in their endeavour to safeguard free trade in the European solar industry. The European Commission has opened on 6th September 2012 an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese solar products.
"We have seen great support for our cause over the last months. There is widespread opposition against punitive duties among the many European solar companies, industry experts and politicians. Also, the German chancellor Angela Merkel has prominently called upon the European Commission and other parties involved solving the conflict through political dialogue", says Greg Spanoudakis, a AFASE spokesperson.
AFASE believes that a negotiated solution is clearly in the interest of the European Union to avoid punitive tariffs being introduced. These punitive tariffs would not only push up prices and punish consumers; they would also threaten the delicate solar energy ecosystem putting thousands of jobs at risk. This ecosystem is composed of companies upstream and downstream the solar sector from around the world.
"A typical solar project today would take equipment and raw materials from Germany, transform them into solar energy systems in China, use a Dutch logistics provider to deliver them to project developers in Italy and Germany. There Italian and German engineers would install the solar systems on the spot. Free markets are the prerequisite to maintain the leading position of the European solar market", explains Thorsten Preugschas, CEO of the German operating project development company and AFASE affiliate Soventix.
