Strategic developments in industrial policy by 2030

The opinion pleads for an holistic approach to reconcile growth, climate, environmental challenges and societal problems in a fair transition design.

It underlines that Europe's renaissance ( rEUnaissance) means a fully fledged master plan for European industry, mainstreaming industrial policy across all EU policies, enabling industry to transform and generating industrial added value through creativity and smart design, social innovation and fostering new sustainable and inclusive industrial models.

The EU Strategy  should recognise the importance of value chains and addresses ambitious measures to develop these further. Rather than focusing on individual sectors, the Strategy should ensure attractive operating conditions in Europe. The measure of the success should be the potential of individual European value chain links to be integrated into global value chains

It stresses that improvements in education and training for new jobs and services should also be closely interlinked with R+D+i policies and with the creation of work-based learning, extending Skills Agenda to key industry sectors, such as construction, steel, paper, green technologies and renewable energies, manufacturing and maritime shipping.

To make the whole industrial value chain more sustainable, the EESC firmly supports the Commission's road map on financing sustainable growth, building a sustainable finance taxonomy that reorients responsible savings to sustainable investments and enhancing the European Strategic Investment (Invest EU Fund and private financial sources).

It strongly supports the golden rule on public investment, not only in co-financing the strategic investment projects but also in all sustainable investment projects in relation to the positive progress of the unified EU classification system for sustainable activities (taxonomy)

Regarding EU Free Trade Agreements , sustainability chapters in FTA's must promote implementation of ILO labour standards and the UN Principles on Business and Human Rights establishing minimum cross-cutting conditions that cannot be substituted  (rights of vulnerable people, good fiscal governance, etc) . Reciprocity in Trade relations (e.g. investments, public procurement, subsidies) should be guaranteed.

An enlarged social dialogue at different levels is necessary to properly analyse and provide joint responses to global value chains in sustainable companies.