European industry between Caporetto and revival

The Trento Festival of Economics came to an end a few days ago. Among the most interesting topics discussed was 'The automotive industry in Europe: Caporetto or revival?'. The statistics say that there has already been a Caporetto for the car industry in Europe and so now, continuing the patriotic military metaphor, the categorical imperative is to find a line on the Piave River on which to halt the decline and then attempt a relaunch. Fortunately (so to speak) in this dramatic picture, it is easy to identify the cause of the decline. It is the European Union's claim to impose electric cars on all EU citizens from 2035 in order to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from their cars, carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas and therefore contributes to global warming, along with many other greenhouse gases such as the infamous ozone, the hole in the ozone layer, which years ago had disturbed the sleep of ideological environmentalists and ordinary citizens alike, only to disappear from their screens and make way for CO2, the new number one public danger to be eliminated as soon as possible in order to save humanity. From this last assumption came the new environmental policy dear to ideological environmentalists and the political forces that need ideological environmentalists to maintain their positions of power and command.
The recipe adopted to impose the new course is the tried-and-tested carrot-and-stick: the stick for EU carmakers exhausted by billions in fines for infringing political diktats, and the carrot for motorists enticed into buying electric cars by generous community incentives. For the sake of the record, it must be said that the fact that the EU's example has not been followed by anyone in the world does not seem to have upset ideological environmentalists. It must be said, however, that something is also changing in the EU. A small openness to reason seems timidly to be emerging. The fact remains, however, that in order to go from Caporetto to a revival, it is necessary that after General Cadorna who, when the assault went wrong, had his soldiers shot, inspired by the decimations of the ancient Romans (just as the EU slaughtered its car companies with fines), Diaz generals arrive in Brussels and in the car world to stop the enemy at the Piave and lead them to victory.