The European Commission updates the 2020 New Industrial Strategy
On 5 May, the European Commission released an updated version of the New Industrial Strategy to address the vulnerabilities and dependencies of the Single Market laid bare by Covid-19. The strategy was first presented on 10 March 2020, the day before the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 as a pandemic. Building on the flexible ecosystem-based approach outlined last year, the Commission now offers a tailored assessment of the needs of each industrial ecosystem and how all market players can best work together to:
Strengthen single market resilience
Deal with dependencies
Accelerate the twin transition
What the Commission will do
Propose a Single Market Emergency Instrument (Q1 2022) to ensure the availability and free movement of persons, goods, and services in the context of future crises. The measure should also improve coordination between the EU Member States and reinforce public procurement cooperation.
Address the solvency risk affecting SMEs through an exchange of good practices on measures and incentives taken by several Member States to target support on viable companies.
Put forward a Communication on “Business Taxation for the 21st century” to ensure fairness and growth, including concrete measures for SMEs.
Engage with Member States, industry, and social partners, to address the security of medicines supply and the pharmaceutical strategy.
Identify measures to reinforce the EU position in global value chains, also by strengthening and diversifying external trade, creating new opportunities also for low- and middle-income countries.
Review strategic dependencies – i.e., on raw materials, batteries, active pharmaceutical ingredients, hydrogen, semiconductors, and cloud and edge technologies- and monitoring of associated risks (starting in 2021).
Launch the Alliance on processors and semiconductor technologies and the Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge, and Cloud (Q2 2021).
Consider the preparation of an Alliance on Space Launchers for a competitive, cost-effective, and autonomous EU access to space; and an Alliance on Zero Emission Aviation, leveraging the existing investments under the Clean Sky.
Conduct an extensive review of the EU competition rules to make sure that they are fit to support the green and digital transition
Release the ‘fit-for-55’ package in view of achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, as well as present a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for selected sectors.
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