How to Institutionalise European Industrial Policy (for Strategic Autonomy and the Green Transition)

We present some ideas on the tools and financing of a truly supranational industrial policy in the European Union (EU). We begin by reviewing the evolving rationales for and attitudes towards industrial policy, and highlight the growing acceptance of a pro-active role of the State in the economy as a response to external challenges of global scale and transformative impact. At this historical juncture, a polycrisis and a permacrisis are reshaping globalisation, fuelling rivalries and interventions aimed at increasing autonomy and sovereignty over strategic assets as well as to facilitate the green transition. The EU can institutionalise a permanent European industrial policy through the establishment of instruments characterised by a pure European public good nature. We suggest a framework fund on the model of NextGenerationEU package, featuring the ‘Europeanisation’ of the Important Projects of Common European Interest and better designed centrally managed programmes. We underline the importance of linking the design of industrial policy with the discussion of the EU’s own resources.