The European Commission on May 5 presented an updated version of its EU industrial strategy. ”There are several positive parts for business in what the Commission is addressing,” says Göran Grén, Head of the Business Policy and Law Division at the Confederation of Enterprise
The European Commission has updated its industrial strategy, which it had first presented in March last year. Only days after the strategy was unveiled, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and both the EU and the rest of the world entered a major and uncontrollable crisis. The Industrial Strategy has now been updated to take account of the lessons learned from the crisis and to create better conditions for accelerating the transition towards a more digital and sustainable society.
One area the European Commission is emphasising is the EU’s Single Market. It needs to be more resilient to crises and better developed to remove trade and regulatory barriers in order to encourage cross-border activity, particularly in services. The Commission is also proposing to introduce a Single Market Emergency Instrument in order to prevent EU internal border closures in the event of future crises.
The European Commission has also carried out an in-depth study to identify strategic products and technologies where the EU is dependent on a single non-EU country. In particular it looks at the health sector and those that provide inputs for energy-intensive industries.
“Much of what the European Commission sets out in the updated strategy is good for business. Measures to strengthen the EU’s Single market are given a great deal of attention, and that is good for Swedish companies. Furthermore, the Commission has said that where the EU is dependent on a single country for access to a certain product, this should primarily be addressed through increased and diversified trade, rather than measures that lead to protectionism”, says Göran Grén, Head of Corporate Law Department.
“It is now extremely important that the future management and implementation of the EU industrial strategy continues on this route. A strong EU with sustainable economic growth will be built on openness to the outside world, effective competition and favourable conditions for business, not on interventionist policies”, he adds.
EUIndustristrategiEU Industrial Strategy