On Friday 22 March, the Heads of State or Government asked the European Commission to present a long-term vision for an "assertive" industrial policy for the European Union, accompanied by concrete measures, by the end of 2019, instead of March 2020.
Consequently the strategy awaited “should address the challenges European industry faces, touching upon all relevant policy areas”, say the conclusions adopted by the 28 Member States. A provisional version of the text set the deadline at March 2020 (see EUROPE 12218/4).
This transversal industrial strategy will have to face several concrete challenges such as the digitisation of the economy, the rise of artificial intelligence and the strategic question of the deployment of the 5G network in the light of recent suspicions about Chinese interference in European security.
As such, the issue of the global competitiveness of industry in key technologies should be addressed by encouraging risk-taking and investment in innovation.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz reiterated on Friday how much he deplored the EU's difficulties in reaching the highest level of competitiveness in the field of new technologies, highlighting the dominance of the US GAFA.
In their conclusions, the European leaders also stress the need to "strengthen" and "deepen" the internal market, focusing on the services economy, particularly digital services, and removing "unjustified" obstacles. They advocate a deepening of the unions of capital markets and energy markets, as well as the establishment of a "fair and efficient" taxation system. The Commission is invited to present a long-term action plan to improve the implementation of Single Market rules by March 2020.
EU competition rules can also be a lever for the emergence of European champions capable of competing internationally. As the draft text envisaged, the European Council's conclusions indicate that the Commission will identify by the end of 2019 how to fill the "gaps" in EU competition law, "in order to address the distortions created within the internal market by foreign state ownership and financing through state aid".
This reference echoes the Franco-German manifesto of February in favour of a European industrial policy (see EUROPE 12197/5), unveiled shortly after the Commission's refusal to approve the proposed merger between Alstom and Siemens (see EUROPE 12188/1).
If a discussion has taken place at the highest political level, it is therefore not a question of revolutionising the rules of competition law at this time. The Franco-German document reportedly received a somewhat frosty response from some Member States, in particular Scandinavian ones.
In front of the press, Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister did not oppose the emergence of European champions, but he said he "preferred" such a dynamic to be facilitated by competition, and not by the granting of State aid.
The issue of support for industry and the internal market has been latent for several years, particularly at ministerial level where the Competitiveness Council regularly calls for a holistic strategy for 2030 or even 2050. By the end of 2018, 18 Member States had launched an appeal of this kind (see EUROPE B 12162A8). Pressure has recently increased even further with seventeen Member States calling for a set of priorities to strengthen industry and the internal market (see EUROPE 12203/13).
See the conclusions of the European Summit: http://bit.ly/2UQbgjJ (Pascal Hansens and Lucas Tripoteau)