STORY: Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech the moves would be part of the EU's Green Deal industrial plan to make Europe the home of clean technology and industrial innovation on the road to net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

The EU is concerned that European companies will move to the United States, which has a $369 billion scheme to subsidize green production. The EU will therefore provide money for its industry as well, von der Leyen said.

But she noted that, because not all countries in the 27-nation EU have the same capacity to support their companies, using state aid alone could result in unfair competition, "fragmentation" that would damage the EU single market.