More Europe or no more future – the MES can be crucial to EU industrial policies, too
More Europe or no more future, as Gianni Agnelli – historical industrial leader with deep Italian roots, a confident European attitude and strong American ties – was fond to say. And today, 20 years after his death, just as we find ourselves right in the middle of a period marked by dramatic political and social transformation, as well as extraordinary economic challenges, his words are worth remembering, as they corroborate the need to focus on Europe, in spite of it all, and therefore look towards a future defined by greater and improved European integration, towards a sustainable development that will benefit the next EU generation, in the full awareness that economic growth, social cohesion and the safeguarding of that great European heritage – liberal democracy – need to be closely interconnected, to form a tight system shaped by values and bold political choices.
“More state aid support means less Europe. More shared industrial policies mean, on the other hand, greater and better development”, unanimously maintain Italian companies belonging to territorial entrepreneurial association Confindustria. Companies that, some time ago, launched an initiative aimed at counteracting the impact of those protectionist winds that are blowing on a global scale (as discussed in our blog from two weeks ago) and threaten to weaken international trade and thus general growth. Indeed, the initiative seeks the collaboration of French and German entrepreneurial associations, too, in order to exert shared pressure on the EU Commission in Brussels for the attainment of wider and better competitive conditions for all businesses across Europe.
In fact, considering that even now Germany and France account for over 77% of state aid provisions, increasing them would merely end up exacerbating the inequalities between countries and national business frameworks. Basically, the risk is that the EU internal market could fragment and be hit by a crisis, and that only countries whose economy has sufficient room for an enlarged public debt would benefit from it.
Better, rather, to focus on the idea favoured by EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager – a “sovereign fund” aimed at supporting strategic sectors at a European level, confining state aid provisions to “targeted measures”, as safeguarding the common market is “a red line” not to be crossed.
An “EU sovereign fund”, then – a tool to be integrated as part of the decisions concerning industrial policies currently being discussed in Brussels with key contributions by the Commission’s vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni. A green industrial policy, as Ursula von der Leyen has been maintaining for a long time, choosing environmental and social sustainability as a pivotal policy to boost competitiveness within the entire European economic system – issues that will be discussed more in depth at the EU summits scheduled for the beginning of February.
Indeed, Europe currently finds itself at the heart of a crucial shift in the global economy: a “globalisation to be reframed”, as long preached by The Economist. What needs to be addressed are China’s closed economy policies that favour its internal market, as well as the insidious strategies implemented by the Trump government, which, through the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), the CHIPS and the Science Act have triggered public investments worth hundreds of billion dollars in support of American enterprises and any international businesses willing to move to the United States. And to avoid a trading war between Europe and USA (also considering the political impact this would entail in the current geopolitical framework, already strained by severe tensions and alarming rifts), we need to protect the European industry from the threats of crisis and decline, in the awareness that market, free enterprise, social responsibility, people’s well-being and thus employment, welfare and democracy, must remain closely tied together.
From this angle, the significance of EU industrial policies appears much more far-reaching and as such needs to be conceived within a wider context that includes a review of the Stability and Growth Pact and the notion of a more incisive European role in the Mediterranean region and in relation to Africa.
Confindustria believes that the MES could also be oriented in this direction (president Carlo Bonomi recently mentioned this at a meeting in Venice; Il Sole24Ore, 28 January), and according to reliable sources, Palazzo Chigi is also – finally – discussing the “go-ahead” for the ratification of the MES as part of a more efficient use of all available European tools and structures, including the EIB, the European Investment Bank (La Stampa, 28 January).
Development remains key to all of this, and all available resources – those that the EU can reap on the financial markets and those that can be collaboratively raised by the various states – should be allocated to ensure its growth, as part of a common response whose attitude is anything but protectionist, as a neo-Keynesian decision concerning the quality of public investment.
Its mainstay could be an agreement between Berlin, Paris and Rome (as asserted by Giulio Tremonti as president of the Italian Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs; Corriere della Sera, 26 January), an agreement that could drive new European industrial policies but also focused on promoting European competitiveness, technological innovation, research, training, the relaunch of the European industry and all its connected services. And after the Recovery Plan, an EU fund dedicated to energy, strategic raw material – starting from rare earth materials and basic industrial components such as microchips – could really become an essential tool to bind together safety, autonomy and development.
(Picture: Getty Images)
More Europe or no more future, as Gianni Agnelli – historical industrial leader with deep Italian roots, a confident European attitude and strong American ties – was fond to say. And today, 20 years after his death, just as we find ourselves right in the middle of a period marked by dramatic political and social transformation, as well as extraordinary economic challenges, his words are worth remembering, as they corroborate the need to focus on Europe, in spite of it all, and therefore look towards a future defined by greater and improved European integration, towards a sustainable development that will benefit the next EU generation, in the full awareness that economic growth, social cohesion and the safeguarding of that great European heritage – liberal democracy – need to be closely interconnected, to form a tight system shaped by values and bold political choices.
“More state aid support means less Europe. More shared industrial policies mean, on the other hand, greater and better development”, unanimously maintain Italian companies belonging to territorial entrepreneurial association Confindustria. Companies that, some time ago, launched an initiative aimed at counteracting the impact of those protectionist winds that are blowing on a global scale (as discussed in our blog from two weeks ago) and threaten to weaken international trade and thus general growth. Indeed, the initiative seeks the collaboration of French and German entrepreneurial associations, too, in order to exert shared pressure on the EU Commission in Brussels for the attainment of wider and better competitive conditions for all businesses across Europe.
In fact, considering that even now Germany and France account for over 77% of state aid provisions, increasing them would merely end up exacerbating the inequalities between countries and national business frameworks. Basically, the risk is that the EU internal market could fragment and be hit by a crisis, and that only countries whose economy has sufficient room for an enlarged public debt would benefit from it.
Better, rather, to focus on the idea favoured by EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager – a “sovereign fund” aimed at supporting strategic sectors at a European level, confining state aid provisions to “targeted measures”, as safeguarding the common market is “a red line” not to be crossed.
An “EU sovereign fund”, then – a tool to be integrated as part of the decisions concerning industrial policies currently being discussed in Brussels with key contributions by the Commission’s vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni. A green industrial policy, as Ursula von der Leyen has been maintaining for a long time, choosing environmental and social sustainability as a pivotal policy to boost competitiveness within the entire European economic system – issues that will be discussed more in depth at the EU summits scheduled for the beginning of February.
Indeed, Europe currently finds itself at the heart of a crucial shift in the global economy: a “globalisation to be reframed”, as long preached by The Economist. What needs to be addressed are China’s closed economy policies that favour its internal market, as well as the insidious strategies implemented by the Trump government, which, through the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), the CHIPS and the Science Act have triggered public investments worth hundreds of billion dollars in support of American enterprises and any international businesses willing to move to the United States. And to avoid a trading war between Europe and USA (also considering the political impact this would entail in the current geopolitical framework, already strained by severe tensions and alarming rifts), we need to protect the European industry from the threats of crisis and decline, in the awareness that market, free enterprise, social responsibility, people’s well-being and thus employment, welfare and democracy, must remain closely tied together.
From this angle, the significance of EU industrial policies appears much more far-reaching and as such needs to be conceived within a wider context that includes a review of the Stability and Growth Pact and the notion of a more incisive European role in the Mediterranean region and in relation to Africa.
Confindustria believes that the MES could also be oriented in this direction (president Carlo Bonomi recently mentioned this at a meeting in Venice; Il Sole24Ore, 28 January), and according to reliable sources, Palazzo Chigi is also – finally – discussing the “go-ahead” for the ratification of the MES as part of a more efficient use of all available European tools and structures, including the EIB, the European Investment Bank (La Stampa, 28 January).
Development remains key to all of this, and all available resources – those that the EU can reap on the financial markets and those that can be collaboratively raised by the various states – should be allocated to ensure its growth, as part of a common response whose attitude is anything but protectionist, as a neo-Keynesian decision concerning the quality of public investment.
Its mainstay could be an agreement between Berlin, Paris and Rome (as asserted by Giulio Tremonti as president of the Italian Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs; Corriere della Sera, 26 January), an agreement that could drive new European industrial policies but also focused on promoting European competitiveness, technological innovation, research, training, the relaunch of the European industry and all its connected services. And after the Recovery Plan, an EU fund dedicated to energy, strategic raw material – starting from rare earth materials and basic industrial components such as microchips – could really become an essential tool to bind together safety, autonomy and development.
(Picture: Getty Images)