Conclusions: Towards a Modern Industrial Policy of the European Union

Abstract

Industrial policy can be defined on the basis of various factors. On one hand, it concerns all objectives, activities, and tools and their effects on only industry per se. On the other hand, due to substantial changes in business models, consumers’ needs and expectations, and access to new techniques and technologies, including digital platforms, traditional industry has evolved into a new type of industry. As a result one can find a very wide range of scope of industrial policy: from very narrow ones dedicated to selected traditional industries to very broad definitions which combine all activities run by business operators. As regards the objectives of traditional industrial policy, we find that some of them relate purely to selected sectors of industry. These are linked to, inter alia: (1) companies in economic trouble; (2) infant industries; (3) strategic industries; and (4) all other enterprises chosen by government on the basis of specific criteria. There are many arguments in favour of interventions within a traditional (sec-toral) industrial policy, starting from the economic through the social and ending with political reasons. However it should be noted that there is also a large set of strong arguments against governmental interventions in the market. They concern the lack of well-defined aims underlying actions, inappropriate tools, improperly prepared companies/sectors, and the lack of well-qualified public administrators who could act without surrendering to political pressures. To this end the horizontal approach to industrial policy was developed. However its instruments can also