The European Commission’s Internal Market Services are continuing their work on the drafting of the future industrial strategy of the European Union, which is due to be presented on 4 March. The strategy, now some 30 pages long, is structured around four main lines of action – challenges, governance, horizontal measures, technologies and strategic value chains – according to a draft version dated end January obtained by EUROPE.
The main lines of action and the initiatives planned remain more or less the same as those set out in the outline already detailed by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12412/7).
It includes flagship initiatives such as: – the Action Plan for the implementation of the Internal Market; – the SME strategy; – the Digital Services Act; – the Action Plan for the Capital Markets Union; – the digital platform workers initiative; – the instrument of defence against abusive public subsidies from non-Member States; – the Hydrogen Alliance, like the one for the electric battery; – the action plan to secure critical raw materials; – the strategy to ensure a clean chemicals sector; – the strategy for clean mobility; – various actions to strengthen European cybersecurity; – strategy for the pharmaceutical sector; – the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (see EUROPE 12415/1, 12413/6); and – the action plan to create synergies between defence and space.
Sovereignty gives way to international competitiveness
According to a first partial analysis, this version of the strategy has watered down the ‘sovereignty’ dimension of the strategy in order to put more emphasis on the competitiveness of European industry on the international scene. The message changes, but the idea remains the same.
Generally speaking, the willingness to mobilise the various economic actors, civil society and other stakeholders as well as the social partners seems more prominent in this version. On the governance front, in addition to using the ‘European Semester’ budget process, the Commission is planning to set up yet another permanent high-level governance forum and intends to establish ‘strategic value chain innovation hubs’.
A new report explicitly dedicated to internal market barriers seems to have been added to the 14 January version. For Horizon Europe, the strategic planning of the Research Framework Programme is highlighted.
New initiatives to promote gender equality are also mentioned in relation to digital and managerial skills and the Women Techstart initiative. In addition, a ‘Circular Alliance’ has been added explicitly to accompany the greening of the textile sector. The importance of SMEs is moreover highlighted, be it in defence, the appropriation of new technologies and others.
Biofuels for aviation
The Commission is also clarifying its vision for new generation aviation fuels. What was described as ‘alternative fuel’ in the previous version has thus become biofuel in the new version, alongside synthetic fuels.
In its conclusions, the strategy states that the Heads of State or Government will be called upon to take a position on the future strategy at the March European Council, one year after the request for a new industrial strategy by the Twenty-Eight (see EUROPE 12220/3).
To consult the draft strategy: http://bit.ly/2Up1Vlr (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens with Hermine Donceel and Camille-Cerise Gessant)