Brussels, 27/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a column published on Friday by the French daily Le Figaro, Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen and French Secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet recommend a “shared approach based on a common framework” for a strong industrial policy to support the partnership for growth and employment. The emergence of new industrial powers of global size, in particular, “mean we must renew our industrial policy”, Messrs Verheugen and Jouyet said in substance, recalling that the EU revised its industrial policy in 2005 by basing it on a combination of horizontal initiatives (active promotion of new energy and environmental technologies, for example) and sectoral initiatives (mainly on motor vehicles and pharmaceutical products). “It is better for a stronger Europe to have 4 technological projects for which we can pool our competences rather than 27 projects conducted separately”, they said. They went on to stress the need to capitalise the achievements of the internal market to place Europe at the head of sustainable development and innovation. To this end, initiatives will be discussed at European level, they say, “mainly on real environmental taxation”. Messrs Verheugen and Jouyet also point out that, under French EU Council presidency (second half 2008), mainly directives on consolidation of the international market and on protection of the environment should be adopted. (eh/ol)