The Competitiveness Council on 29 September looked like it might be lacklustre but came up with a surprise proposal to give the European Union an ambitious industrial strategy, an idea that won wide support among the member states.
In the light of recent setbacks for European industry, be it steel (a question on the ministers’ agenda), Caterpillar in Belgium or Alstom in France (see EUROPE 11625), Belgium asked the Commission to deal with the issue of deindustrialisation and come up with a ‘horizontal’ strategy in 2017.
Belgium's request did not come out of the blue. Walloon (French-speaking Belgium) industry minister Jean-Claude Marcourt pointed out that his country has supported this idea since 2010 and published a concept paper to this effect in May 2013 along with a letter (co-signed by a number of delegations) to the president of the Council in March 2014.
Belgium’s most recent action in this domain was on 21 September, when it sent a letter to the Slovak Presidency ahead of the Competitiveness Council stating its regret at the EU’s rather unresponsive attitude to deindustrialisation. The member states urged the European Commission to come up with tangible proposals for energy-guzzling industries. Belgium also suggests stimulating the emergence of new networks and value chains in order to diversify production and raise value-added, stressing the role of SMEs.
Initially, the Slovak Presidency resisted putting the question on the agenda, explains a source, but changed its mind. To the surprise of some observers, the proposal ended up receiving the backing of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Spain and Portugal.
There is genuine interest in such a strategy. On 26 September, Internal Market and Industry Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska and European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen were sent a letter by Friends of Industry, calling among other things for a strategic horizontal framework to be set up at European level to support industry.
Quizzed by EUROPE on the issue at a press conference, Bieńkowska said she would be examining the question and discussing it at the College of Commissioners. She said the industrial component would be part of a number of future strategies, such as the space strategy for Europe . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)