The European Council summit held on 20-21 March tackled industrial competitiveness as a top priority issue. CECIMO, the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries, welcomes the attention given by the EU to the manufacturing industry at the highest political level. However, the association comments that the European Council remains vague on implementation.

According to its press release, CECIMO is convinced that the European Council’s call on Member States to have closer cooperation in the field of key enabling technologies will have a positive impact on manufacturing innovation and investments. The implementation of ‘projects of European interest’ in the area of high performance production has a great potential to mobilize significant funds from public and private actors to set up a strong infrastructure for close-to-market research.

“We strongly endorse the European Council’s call on Member States and the European Commission to address skills shortages in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM skills) as a matter of priority Technological edge is the most important asset for Europe to remain competitive in global markets and it builds on a highly skilled workforce,” states Jean-Camille Uring, CECIMO President and Member of the Executive Board of Fives.

Defining appropriate mechanisms remains an absolute necessity

Although the summit conclusions set out selective policy priorities with a focus on innovation and skills to enhance industrial competitiveness, the European Council remains vague on the methods to implement those priorities in a coordinated and integrated manner within an European context, comments CECIMO.

Moreover, for the moment heads of state and government of EU member states refrained from committing to the 2020 target for reindustrialization which is promoted by the Commission, failing to live up to the expectations of industry.

CECIMO has been a vocal supporter for the endorsement of the 2020 manufacturing target. Mr Filip Geerts, CECIMO Director General, states “It is very positive to see that the European Council sends a clear signal on its intention to make industrial competitiveness a priority across policy areas. However, it does not provide clear guidance on how to put it into practice. We do not see how and within which framework policy integration and coordination will be carried out at EU level and between Member States.”

He adds: “Defining appropriate mechanisms for policy coordination and synchronization remains an absolute necessity to break from fragmented and weak policies of the past. The EU needs to reassure industry that reindustrialization ambitions are accompanied by an industrial policy with sharper teeth.”

Finally, CECIMO encourages the continuation of discussions within the EU on the approach to industrial policy.

Prior to the meeting, through its Communication “For an industrial renaissance”, the European Commission called on the European Council to endorse the Commission’s goal of increasing the contribution of manufacturing to 20% of the EU GDP by 2020.