Industrial policy has become a major buzzword in European economic policy debates but, as it stands, the term means too many different things to too many people. It is also a misnomer for what Europe truly needs: a new growth strategy that redefines the role of the state in the economy, allows Europe to tackle the challenges of globalization, automation and digitalization and, at the same time, appreciates the fact that close economic partners increasingly question the norms of fair competition.
For such a strategy to be successful, it needs to stand on firm intellectual ground so that it does not run the risk of generating superficial solutions to poorly-defined problems. Solutions need to be future-oriented and compatible with the digital age or they will be dysfunctional. They also need to go beyond individual member states and be at least European or else they will be irrelevant. Furthermore, a new growth strategy should strengthen, not weaken global trade relations as well as Europe’s openness to the world.
An encompassing European growth strategy should therefore:
#1 ▪ Make substantial progress on the traditional Single Market agenda;
#2 ▪ remove obstacles for small European firms and start-ups to scale up;
#3 ▪ strive to set the global regulatory gold standard for technologies of the future;
#4 ▪ make progress towards an “Economic Schengen”;
#5 ▪ increase European public funds for innovation and gear its budget toward research as
well as making new technologies ready for the market;
#6 ▪ make the Capital Markets Union a reality to facilitate the private funding of innovation;
#7 ▪ defend open trade with new bi-and multilateral treaties;
#8 ▪ equip the EU with the necessary defensive measures to level the playing field in
global trade;
#9 ▪ refrain from politicizing competition policy, but use it more intelligently.