“There is no country around the globe where this crime [of state-sponsored forced labour] is committed so forcefully as in the People’s Republic of China and in the Xinjang autonomous region in particular,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, a green EU lawmaker who spoke at a conference convened by the European Solar Manufacturers Council (ESMC) in Brussels on Thursday (15 February).
“What they do is clearly in a league of its own,” added the German lawmaker, who is among a group of MEPs sanctioned by the Chinese government for being critical of Beijing.
EU institutions are currently set to start negotiations on a forced labour regulation, proposed in 2022 – a law that could translate the widespread practices in China into what may amount to a ban on Chinese solar modules.
The US adopted a similar law in 2022 – which led to the Volkswagen cars stuck in port.
I would really like my solar panels to be slavery free please. If that means that we have to recreate the lost jobs in the european solar industry they we have up when we outsourced everything to China a few years ago, in totally fine with that.