EESC info: The CCMI will celebrate its 20th anniversary on 8 June. What has  its role been to date, how has it contributed to the EU agenda and how has it served European civil society? Will it have an essential role to play in Europe's future?

Jacques Glorieux: The Consultative Commission on Industrial Change was set up at the European Economic and Social Committee in 2002 as a distinct legislative commission. It succeeded the consultative committee of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), created by the Treaty of Paris in 1952 for a fifty years period. It is thus the oldest body dedicated to anticipating and supporting industrial change.

I have witnessed this transition personally. In these twenty years, the CCMI has cast light and advised on issues of particular relevance for civil society. It was, for example, the CCMI that drew the attention of EU institutions to planned obsolescence in 2013. It has produced a wide range of opinions, making the most of the sectoral expertise not only of its members, but particularly of its delegates. This dual membership is another unique feature and strength of the CCMI.

The CCMI's core business is rooted in its historic mission of analysing industrial change in coal and steel, in particular delocalisation, relocalisation and the restructuring of industries. Nevertheless, I am proud to say that the CCMI has successfully extended its remit to embrace all industrial ecosystems, including, for example, resource- and energy-intensive industries, critical raw materials, the health industries, the automotive sector and the shipbuilding, aerospace and defence manufacturing industries.

I am confident about the future of CCMI, as its mission is more relevant today than ever before. Industrial policy, which was at the core of European integration from the start with the ECSC, remains high on the European agenda, in particular in the context of the recovery from COVID-19, which has exposed critical dependencies and has greatly affected the Single Market. Similarly, the recent invasion of Ukraine has revealed vulnerabilities leading to shortages of certain critical materials and components in Europe and raising energy prices. In this volatile context, succeeding in the green and digital transition of our economy is essential and urgent to boost Europe's resilience and strategic autonomy.

These transformations are and will be impacting our daily lives in an unprecedented way and the EESC, and in particular the CCMI, need to play a key role in making a just transition to a future where industry is compatible with the environment, where the economy thrives and where workers are protected. Before the summer of 2022, the CCMI will adopt opinions covering the Chips Act from the sectoral perspective of the defence and aerospace industries, the critical technologies of defence and security - a key topic for achieving open strategic autonomy - and decarbonisation technologies.

On 8 June, we will be celebrating the CCMI's 20th anniversary, but we will be looking to the future and we will address all of these issues, reflecting on how the EESC can best contribute to the response to the challenges that all European industrial sectors are facing in remaining competitive. The conference will be an opportunity to give a voice to organised civil society, a key player in ensuring that these transformations take place in a just and fair way, leaving no one behind.  

I invite you all to follow the event through the CCMI dedicated website at: https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/agenda/our-events/events/ccmi-20th-anniversary