There is never a wrong way to proclaim ambitious goals. This applies to sports as well as politics. Even if the EU has rather missed its once declared goal of becoming the most competitive region in the world.

So now Brussels wants to cover two-fifths of the demand for the technologies needed for the energy transition from its own production. Considering that the proportion of solar cells today tends towards zero, this is truly ambitious. Nevertheless, the idea is right not to become too dependent on individual suppliers (China).

The crucial question, however, is how the EU should achieve this. The Commission calls for rapid approval procedures. It aims to promote knowledge and research. This is a good programme to bring the often sluggish green industries in the EU to the top of the world.

The Commission just lacks the belief that this is enough. The gap is to be filled by subsidies and the targeted preference of manufacturers from the EU based on the US model. So it is with then too ambitious goals: They lead to doping and other unfair means – in sport as well as in politics.