A €100 billion “European Future Fund” could soon be launched with the express purpose of taking on tech giants like Amazon, Apple and Alibaba.
The EU is planning to build a sovereign wealth fund, financed by the member states, to help it build global players which can compete with the world’s dominant companies which “manage the global agenda”.
According to an internal document seen by the Financial Times, this plan will be pitched to the incoming European Commission president Ursula van der Leyen, alongside other initiatives.
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The document specifically names US tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, alongside China’s Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, warning that they hold the potential to “obliterate the existing innovation dynamic and industrial position of EU industry in certain sectors”.
It goes on to state that these companies “manage the global agenda” and that “Europe has no such companies”.
“This presents a risk to growth, jobs, and to Europe’s influence in key strategic sectors”, it continued.
Under the draft proposal, the fund would buy up shares in EU-based companies in “strategically important sectors”, aiming to develop innovation leaders of the future.
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