EU Plans Re-Industrialisation Of Europe

Back to the roots: The European Commission has re-discovered industry as a source of wealth creation. It has vowed to create better conditions for investment in innovation and factories and wants to increase the rate of industrial added value in Europe. “The Commission expects to reverse the declining role of the industry”, according to a strategy paper on industrial policy which EU Commissioner Antonio Tajani will present on Wednesday. The share of industry in the EU’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should “be raised to 20 percent by 2020,” promises the policy paper. But that would signal a small revolution because the re-industrialisation of Europe and maintaining its climate goals are contradictory, as business representatives pointed out. Until now, the EU Commission has given unconditional priority to the EU’s climate targets. --Florian Eder,Die Welt, 5 October 2012