Multilevel Governance for European Industrial Policy

Industrial policy has returned to the centre of the European agenda, bringing with it the question of how to govern it across multiple levels, institutions and instruments. Due to lack of EU central fiscal capacity and decentralised decision-making, there are a number of limitations on the range of available tools, effectiveness and scale of European industrial policies. As a result, the EU finds it difficult to pursue the large-scale ambitious industrial policies of the kind the US and China are doing. In this Policy Seminar we will discuss how to overcome these limitations and to reform the governance of the European industrial policy in order to make it more ambitious, strategic and impactful.

The first part of the Policy Seminar will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of the Policy Study ”Governance for European Industrial Policy: Coordination, Planning, and Growth”, produced by a group of researchers and coordinated through collaboration of several progressive foundations – FEPS, Fondazione DEMO, Fondazione Gramsci and the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation.  The study proposes a multilevel architecture built around an Industrial Strategy Board linking the Commission, Member States and regions, with strategic missions translated into Pacts, clear conditionality and shared monitoring. It also assesses the Commission’s proposal for a European Competitiveness Fund under the 2028–2034 MFF and suggests corrections. It also advances a targeted proposal to align fiscal rules with the new state-aid flexibility, so that national aid approved by the Commission does not count against the expenditure path under the Stability and Growth Pact.

The second part of the Seminar will open a discussion with scholars, policymakers and representatives of cities and regions around the themes raised in the Study. We will pay special attention to the regional dimension of industrial policy and to how European industrial policy can be made coherent, legitimate and effective on the ground.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact Luis Sáez Jiménez, FEPS Project Officer (luis.saez@feps-europe.eu).