| European Parliament Fact Sheets |
4.7.1. General principles of EU industrial policyLEGAL BASIS While the ECSC Treaty and the Euratom Treaty may be regarded as having established policy for two key industrial sectors, the EC Treaty, which covers all sectors of the economy, does not make any reference to an industrial policy. However, the Treaties contain many provisions on which a common industrial policy can be based. An industrial policy may be construed as the overall application to industry or to certain sectors of industry of all the general Treaty provisions with a view to accelerating the process of resource allocation among and within the various sectors. The Maastricht Treaty modified the EC Treaty [Article 157 (130)] in order to provide a legal basis for a common industrial policy. It enables the Commission to propose measures to improve the competitiveness of European industry. However, the Commission must have the Council's unanimous support to conduct industrial policy operations. OBJECTIVES Broadly speaking, industrial policy consists of:
In a narrower sense, the Community's industrial policy extends to specific measures for certain industrial sectors and the resources provided for this purpose. The Community has become involved in certain European industries because of their relatively poor performance in the world market. The competitive challenges, in both high-tech and traditional industries, can no longer be met by national industrial policies. The process of industrial restructuring is thus closely linked to the phenomenon of economic interdependence. ACHIEVEMENTS 1. Overall conception Given the problems posed by industrial restructuring, the EU pursues a policy designed to achieve two objectives. Firstly, the Commission has adopted certain criteria for direct action in order to resolve the crisis in the Community's main industrial sectors. They are designed, in particular, to prevent distortions of competition and to enable the sectors concerned to be restructured within a given period. At the same time, the criteria should ensure that this restructuring is coordinated and that the strategy for deliberately creating the conditions for promoting sectors capable of competing with their counterparts in other industrialized or newly industrializing countries is assessed. Secondly, increasing Europeanization in the field of research, innovation and industrial structures is an important element of European industrial policy strategy. Examples of this type of European cooperation are the EU programmes:
The Community is also coordinating its R&D programmes with EUREKA (European Research Coordination Agency) projects. The Commission actively monitors developments in the various industrial sectors, as is evident from the Panorama of EU Industry. 2. Major documents a. The initiatives taken to complete the internal market, which were announced in the Commission's White Paper 'Completing the Internal Market' (COM(85)310), gave the Community's industrial policy a major boost. An integrated market will give European industry the advantages already enjoyed by its American and Japanese competitors in their large internal markets. These advantages include opportunities for mass production, specialization, economies of scale, transnational cooperation among enterprises, technical harmonization, research, innovation, investment and Community-wide tendering. The Community is also able to grant direct aid to industry:
b. In 1990 the Commission proposed a coherent industrial policy concept in its communication 'Industrial Policy in an open and competitive environment' (COM(90) 556). c. In its White Paper 'Growth, competitiveness, employment - the challenges and ways forward into the 21st century' published in late 1993 (COM(93) 700) the Commission referred to the particular importance of expanding research and technological development, adjusting education and training systems and accelerating the installation of trans-European networks, especially in the areas of transport, telecommunications and energy, in a partnership between the public and private sectors. d. In March 1995, the Commission submitted its report (SEC(95)437 final) on "Implementation of Council Resolutions and Conclusions on Industrial Policy". The Council had called for this report in its Resolution of 21 November 1994. It showed that action taken by the Community on industrial policy contributes to a general improvement in competitiveness by means of measures under all the relevant Community policies. Following the Council resolution the Commission published its report "The Competitiveness of European Industry" (1997). In December 1995, the Commission adopted the Green Paper on innovation (COM(95)688 final), the aim of which is to identify factors which encourage or hamper innovation in the European Union and to propose, at all decision-making levels, practical measures to step up the Unions overall innovation capacity, with special emphasis on SMEs. On 6 June 1996, the European Parliament endorsed the main principles of the Commission's conclusions concerning innovation. The Commission reviews the state of competitiveness of European industry in an annual report. e. In its Communication on the "Competitiveness of European Enterprises in the face of globalisation" (COM(98)718 final), the Commission invited industry, trade unions and the EU institutions to define a new industrial policy and proposed measures for improving the competitiveness of the European companies in the global market. The Commission publishes regular surveys on state aid in the European Union in manufacturing and certain other sectors (e.g. Seventh Survey, COM(99)148 final). ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT The Maastricht Treaty deals with the question of industrial policy for the first time, an achievement that can be attributed to initiatives by Parliament. Parliament has helped to stimulate the process of reorganizing the steel sector and has called for a more dynamic policy to be followed in industrial sectors. The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy is responsible for this area and has examined numerous reports of both a legislative and non-legislative nature. A few examples of recent reports adopted in plenary are given below.
PRODECURE REFERENCES [1] Consultation procedure: COS0191 01/10/2000 |