The Competitiveness Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union that gathers the ministers of the member states in charge of industry, research, trade and economy.
The direct reason for the invitation was the latest opinion of the CCMI on industrial policy. In this opinion, with Gerald Kreuzer from our Austrian affiliate PRO-GE as co-rapporteur, an assessment was made of the strategic developments in industrial policy by 2030 with a focus on strengthening Europe’s performance within global value chains. The CCMI was represented by its President Lucie Studnicna from the Czech trade union CMKOS.
IndustriAll Europe seized the opportunity to introduce our action plan ‘Manufacturing our Future’ on the future of Europe’s industry.
The presentations were followed by a debate about key issues such as the governance of industrial policy, the need for a European approach, the risk of protectionism that could result from a “Made in Europe”-strategy, the regulation/deregulation debate, the need for a sectoral approach of industry, the challenge to reconcile sustainability with competitiveness.
The meeting concluded by summing up the main challenges for industrial policy for the next years: new transport systems, new energy systems, the digital revolution, the deep decarbonisation of the energy-intensive industries, the need to move from a production model based on mass production and mass consumption towards a more circular economy.
IndustriAll Europe will continue promoting its action plan e.g. in the upcoming meetings of the Round Table ‘industry 2030’, organised by the Commission.
'Manufacturing Our Future'