2018-07 FOR AN AMBITIOUS EU INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY – A GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

The coalition Industry4Europe has issued a new joint paper on “A Governance Structure for an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy”, which has been co-signed by 122 organisations. It provides concrete recommendations to ensure that Industry is dealt with as a top political priority by all EU Institutions during the next institutional cycle:

“In the aftermath of the two previous Industry4Europe Joint Papers “For an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy: Going further” (October 2017) and “Setting indicators for an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy” (March 2018), this new Joint Paper aims at proposing a governance structure which enables the implementation of an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy, based on an informed dialogue between the industry, decision-makers at EU, national, regional and local levels and the Civil Society.

More specifically, a future Industrial Strategy governance structure should be based on the following two pillars:

1. Ensuring an informed and permanent dialogue between the industry and policy decision-makers in association with civil society stakeholders (trade unions, consumers organisations, NGOs, academia) and;

2. A structure of European Institutions which allows for an Industrial Strategy to be addressed and implemented at highest level.

With its Joint Paper “For an ambitious EU Industrial Strategy: Going further” (October 2017), the Industry4Europe coalition has been calling for a long-term vision for Europe’s industry which demands a long-term governance structure going beyond the 6-month EU Presidency cycle and the 5-year mandate of the current European Commission. Such a governance structure should enable the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, together with industry stakeholders, to develop a common vision for a smart, innovative and sustainable industry. Existing policies, initiatives and tools, addressing the challenges and gaps, including those described in the Commission’s Communication “Investing in a smart, innovative and sustainable Industry: A renewed EU Industrial Policy Strategy” of September 2017, should be reviewed in order to develop and implement a long-term  comprehensive EU Industrial Strategy as well as for monitoring its progress on a regular basis.”