The present key source aims to identify different forms of industrial policy, define them, as well as offering a number of position papers on the topic. It does so in the context of the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee’s drafting of a report on reindustrialising Europe to promote competitiveness and sustainability (2013/2006(INI). The draft is clear that “RISE (Renaissance of Industry for a Sustainable Europe) should follow a horizontal rather than vertical industrial policy concept” and that “industrial policy must be embedded in a market where government sets the regulatory framework but does not directly intervene to pick winners”.
Overviews
General principles of EU industrial policy / European Parliament, Fact Sheets on the European Union, 2013, 6p.
“The EU’s industrial policy aims to improve the competitiveness of European industry, thereby ensuring that it can maintain its role as a driver of sustainable growth and employment in Europe. Article 173 of the TFEU represents the legal basis for the EU’s industrial policy. Various strategies have been adopted in order to ensure better framework conditions for the EU industry; the most recent being the flagship initiative: ‘An Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era’, which was included in the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’.”
EU industry: boosting growth and jobs / Library Briefing, Library of the European Parliament, 2012, 1p.
Overview, dated October 2012, of the measures taken by the Commission, the Council, and the EP to stimulate industry.
Innovation and Industrial Policy / European Parliament, DG IPOL, 2011, 129p.
“The study gives advice on how innovation policy could be better integrated with industrial and research policy based on a comparative analysis at country level and an in-depth examination of a sample of nine different European sectors.”
Analysis
European industrial policy and industrial policy in Europe / Geroski, P.A., Oxford Review of Economic Policy, vol. 5, issue 2, 2013, 17p.
This paper seeks to understand if there is a type of industrial policy which should be applied at a supra-national level. It also evaluates the European industrial policies post-1992.
Beyond Industrial Policy: Emerging Issues and New Trends / Warwick, Ken, OECD, 2013, 57p.
A look at the evolution of industrial policy from outdated vertical measures to the currently preferred horizontal ones, at the dangers embedded in those policies, and the need for better monitoring and evaluation of industrial policy initiatives.
Towards a Broad European Industrial Policy: What Is Missing? / Giuli, Marco, Madariaga – College of Europe Foundation, 2013, 7p.
In the context of the EU2020 strategy, the communications on industrial policies and on new skills for new jobs, the author expresses strong doubts about the horizontal measures’ incidence on industry due to restrictive budgetary discipline in the education and labour markets, neglected framework aspects (taxation, financial regulation and wage policies), legal and administrative burden associated with cross-border work, etc.
The Return of Industrial Policy / Ciuriak, Dan, SSRN, 2013, 102p.
The author observes the recent renaissance of industrial policy all over the world but asks if the lessons of past failures of industrial policy have been learned. Review of the empirical and theoretical developments that have returned industrial policy to the policy mix.
Manufacturing Europe’s future / Veugelers, Reinhilde, Bruegel, 2013, 197p.
“This Blueprint (…) starts by looking in depth into the manufacturing sector and how it is developing. It emphasises the extent to which European industry has become integrated with other parts of the economy, in particular with the increasingly specialised services sector, and how both sectors depend on each other. It convincingly argues that industrial activity is increasingly spread through global value chains. As a result, employment in the sector has increasingly become highly skilled, while those parts of production for which high skill levels are not needed have been shifted to regions with lower labour costs.”
European Industrial Policy / Mendoza, Julien and Rouhier, Stéphane, Foundation for European Progressive Studies, 2012, 17p.
This document explains and defines industrial policies in opposition (or not) to competition policy. It also provides a historical view on industrial policy from Colbertism to European construction. The authors give and explain their position in favour of an interventionist and proactive common industrial policy in Europe.
Negotiate a competitive industrial policy in the European Union / Europe and Society, 2012, 152p.
This multi-author document gathers analysis about industrial policy paving a new growth path for Europe, governance of industrial policy in the EU, the employment and skills aspects of “low carbon” European industrial policies, the role and position of the social partners, etc. It also provides comments on the Commission’s Communication “An integrated industrial policy for the globalisation era. Putting competitiveness and sustainability at the centre stage”.
Industrial Policy / Kim, S. and Dobbin, F., SSRN, 2012, 10p.
The authors list the variety of industrial policies and analyse their roles in modern economies with different systems of government coordination, private initiative, research and development, labour cooperation, and training.
Reindustrialising Europe: the issues at stake in a European Innovation and Industry Policy / Lirzin, F. and Schramm, C., Fondation Robert Schuman, 2012, 13p.
In this analysis in favour of a new industrial policy, the authors consider that Europe has to be aware of the major differences that exist between sectors and regions and the potential that their interaction represents in order to continue its industrial integration.
Industrial policy after the crisis: seizing the future / Bianchi, P. and Labory, S., Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011, viii, 161 p.: 22 cm.
According to the authors, the 2008 economic crisis raised the need for a holistic approach to industrial policy, a policy which corrects systemic rather than specific failures, i.e. an industrial policy which coherently organises trade, competition, research and technological development at local, regional, national and supranational levels taking into consideration the complexity of the economic system in which all sectors are interrelated to different degrees.
One chapter is dedicated to the European industrial policy experience.
Industrial Policy in Europe, Japan and the USA / Buigues, P.-A. and Sekkat, Khalid, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, xx, 232p.
“The book presents the main theoretical arguments for and against public support to business, the instruments of support, and the empirical evidence concerning their effectiveness.”
EU programmes and projects
The Small Business Act for Europe reflects the Commission’s political will to recognise the central role of SMEs in the EU economy and, for the first time, puts into place a comprehensive SME policy framework for the EU and its Member States.
The Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan is a blueprint for decisive action to unleash Europe’s entrepreneurial potential, to remove existing obstacles and to revolutionise the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe.
Related legislative procedure within the European institutions
European Commission
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic Recovery. Industrial Policy Communication Update / European Commission, COM(2012) 582 final, 10/10/2012, 33p.
Council
Council conclusions on Industrial Policy Communication update: A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic Recovery, 10/12/2012, 7p.
European Economic and social Committee
OPINION of the European Economic and Social Committee on A Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic Recovery – Industrial Policy Communication Update. COM(2012) 582 final. CES1094. Rapporteur: Mr van Iersel. Co-rapporteur: Mr Gibellieri, 11/07/2013, 12p.
Committee of the Regions
Draft opinion of the Committee of the Regions on “A stronger European industry for growth and economic recovery”, 2013, 11p.
Politique industrielle: enracinement territorial et facteur humain indispensables à la relance / Committee of the Regions, 11/04/2013
