EU OPENS ITS WALLET TO COMPETE

The European Union is exploring the creation of a massive wealth fund of more than $100 billion to promote their own businesses to compete with U.S. and Chinese tech giants, Politico reported.

The outlet obtained a 173-page document outlining plans for the bloc’s president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, that includes a proposal to boost “European champions.”

“The emergence and leadership of private non-EU competitors, with unprecedented financial means, has the potential to obliterate the existing innovation dynamics and industrial position of EU industry in certain sectors,” the document reads.

“Europe has no such companies” to counter giants like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft from the U.S. and Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent from China, officials said in the proposal.

EU regulators have taken a tough stance against U.S. tech giants in enforcing antitrust, privacy and tax laws, prompting accusations that Europe was acting out of protectionist impulses.

According to Politico, the new fund would invest directly in European companies to build them up.