Tag: industrial policy

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on European countries to step up cooperation on defence yesterday (2 September), arguing in favour of moves towards a borderless EU defence market and intensified integration on military matters.

The European Commission expects to complete a review by October of ways to help Europe's struggling aluminium industry, looking at policies such as climate change and long-term power contracts.

Policymakers need to understand how the real economy is operating, especially with industry under pressure, says the commissioner for industry and entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani. In a video interview, te tells EurActiv that getting European funds out to SMEs is critical to the target of increasing industrial output to 20% of European GDP by 2020.

EXCLUSIVE / This year is likely to be the worst on record for car sales in the European market because of the recession, said Ivan Hodač, head of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association ACEA.

Participants in a public event of the federalist Spinelli Group overwhelmingly supported the introduction of minimal social standards at the EU level and the establishment of a common European industrial and energy policy. But the discussions failed to answer how such goals could be achieved.

SPECIAL REPORT / After a year of closures, sackings and cut-backs, arguments about how to turn European industry around will be to the fore this year as debate intensifies around the correct policy response, and doubts linger over the EU’s ability to deliver.

The French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg has launched a broadside at the European Commission, arguing that Chinese and the US industries "don't have Brussels on their backs" when accepting state aid. A group of seven countries, including France and Germany, have sent a letter urging the EU Executive to "switch gear" on industrial policy.

SPECIAL REPORT / EU plans to introduce new trade reciprocity rules that could block foreign companies from European contracts will prove a key battleground as member states prepare to debate a new industrial policy initiative next month.

SPECIAL REPORT / A European Commission paper setting the future direction for industrial policy, to be published next month, marks a departure from the past by setting a clear preference for sectoral focuses. The aim is to avoid the pitfalls of past attempts to create supranational champions.

SPECIAL REPORT / Innovative technologies will form the core of a new industrial policy that the European Commission will put forward next month. But its success relies on a sharp increase of the EU's budget, which will be a hard sell for cash-strapped EU nations struggling to contain their budget deficits.

SPECIAL REPORT / The EU's new regional funds for 2014-2020 will see more money allocated to the regeneration of brownfield sites, helping old industrial areas generate new economic activity.

SPECIAL REPORT/ A soil framework directive necessary to boost industrial regeneration is creeping back onto the European agenda after years of being shelved by reluctant EU member countries.

EU member states acting alone in tackling the crisis have created distortions in the single market, writes Elie Cohen, research director at France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

Business leaders and trade groups put forward various models for an EU industrial policy during an event organised by the Confrontations Europe think-tank in Strasbourg this month. EurActiv France reports.

European industry ministers began mapping out a new industrial policy for Europe when they met in Brussels yesterday (1 March), stressing the need for a "coordinated and timely exit strategy" from the economic crisis.

Sectors affected by the ongoing recession – including cars and the chemical industry – will be offered specific treatment under a revised industrial policy to be agreed by EU ministers today (28 May).

Europe's electronics and electrical engineering industries say they can make big contributions to cutting EU CO2 emissions, especially through energy efficiency improvements. But investment incentives and greater certainty on exemptions to emissions rules are needed, they say. 

Germany will lose its 'golden shares' in car manufacturer Volkswagen, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice which says that the 1960 'VW-Gesetz' contradicts EU rules on the free movement of capital.

The Commission has renewed its pledge to help European industries face the pressures of globalisation and climate change but stressed that it would not shift towards a more interventionist policy, in an apparent reply to comments by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

With the onward march of globalisation, companies are often faced with a bewildering range of standards to which their products must conform. A preferable option is adherence to a consistent set of standards, even if they are the most exacting. Trade associations increasingly seek to follow this trend by becoming relevant actors in global-policy definition.

EU rules are failing to promote innovation and entrepreneurship because law-makers have been ignoring industry’s ‘unpopular’ interests, said participants in a workshop organised by the Alliance for a Competitive European Industry.

A task force representing all sectors of the industry, academics, consumer advocates and trade unionists will draft a report on how to foster the growth of Europe's Information and Communication Technology industry.

The uncertain outcome of the elections and the failure of Chancellor Schröder's liberal-conservative contenders to win a majority of the electorate has caused disappointment with leaders of Germany's industry.