Ahead of the Competitiveness Council on Friday 24 May, Spain, Greece and Portugal circulated an information note to the other delegations containing options for financing the European Union’s industrial policy. Madrid has asked for this issue to be raised at the meeting of ministers.
These three countries believe that “a powerful industry requires a new approach to mobilise public resources at EU level along with private capital”. To achieve this, they recommend that existing European funds to support industry be “consolidated, focusing on reinforcing industrial infrastructure, promoting production capabilities, and supply chain resilience of critical resources”.
At the last European summit, EU leaders confined themselves to stating that the future ‘European Competitiveness Pact’ requires a “combination of both public and private financing”, in their conclusions (see EUROPE 13394/1).
Spain, Greece and Portugal go further. They call on the European Commission to “explore the creation of a European instrument to ensure the success of our industrial policy”. In their view, such a tool could have an impact on competitiveness without distorting competition between Member States. It should also focus on strategic sectors.
The ministers responsible for competitiveness are due to adopt two sets of conclusions on industry and the future of the internal market on Friday. According to several sources, the language is likely to remain very general on the question of financing for industry.
See note: https://aeur.eu/f/cbz (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)