EU leaders call for a more ambitious industrial strategy

On Friday last week the European Heads of State and Government gathered in the European Council and called for a more ambitious European industrial policy. This call echoes the promise of Commission President von der Leyen addressed in the State of the Union speech of 17th September to update the EU industry strategy in the first half of next year and adapt the EU competition framework to the new global competitive landscape.

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The strategic autonomy is clearly a priority. EU leaders are inviting the Commission to  identify strategic dependencies and to propose measures to reduce these dependencies from a certain number of countries, including by diversifying production and supply chains, ensuring strategic stockpiling, as well as fostering production and investment in Europe.

Innovation is another focus. In this respect, a regulatory environment and state aid framework that are conducive to innovation and facilitate the full involvement of SMEs are mentioned by the EU leaders.  But not only, new industrial alliances can steer work and help finance large-scale projects with positive spillover effects across Europe, using the knowledge of SMEs, big companies, researchers and regions to help remove barriers to innovation.

Industrial alliances already proved successful in the areas of batteries, plastics and microelectronics. They should now be extended to raw materials, medical equipment, microprocessors, secure telecommunication networks, low-carbon industries, and Industrial Clouds and Platforms. On Industrial Clouds and Platforms President von der Leyen has been clear in her State of the Union speech: the EU should make industrial data more accessible (“about 80% of industrial data is not put to use”) to maintain its leadership position.

The European Heads of State and Government will re-address the topic of “EU industrial policy” during a European Council on 25-26 March 2021. In the meantime CECE will bring this important topic in the debate conducted by the Sustainable, Long-term investments & Competitive European Industry Intergroup, which will serve as a forum for discussion on the several dimensions of a comprehensive EU industrial policy and long term sustainable investments over the EU 2019-2024 term.