Colbert Today: A European Perspective

This paper provides an analysis of the action taken by Europe (the EU and the Member States) in the aftermath of the most serious economic crisis since the end of the Second World War. The European perspective, indeed, can be nothing but two-pronged (supranational and national), given the current economic governance system, which although complete where the governance of the currency is concerned (Monetary policy), still shows more than one weak area. This is true not only from the well-known macroeconomic perspective of fiscal policy, but also from the micro-economic viewpoint of industrial policy. If, as far as macroeconomics is concerned, a new balance is perhaps being reached after overcoming the most severe phase of the crisis, with regard to microeconomic issues – which are related to the competitiveness of European enterprises – many important steps need to be taken. The paper is organised as follows: after the Introduction (§1), paragraphs 2 and 3 briefly recall both the «acquis communautaire» in the economic field (think of the Single market and the Euro) and the key figures of the EU economy. Paragraph 4 covers the key steps representing Europe’s response to the crisis between the end of 2008 and the first semester of 2010; as a matter of fact, it is more appropriate to refer to the EU’s non-response in some cases, despite the fact that the November 2008 European Economic Recovery Plan remains a significant effort. Paragraph 5 highlights the importance of some ideas to recommence in order to avoid remaining tied to the status quo (e.g., Mr. Delors’ White Paper of 1993, Sapir Report, Europe 2020, Monti Report, etc.): all share a community basis, in that they suggest recovering plans for reform drawn up within the EU and/or enhancing genuinely European policies. In this light, paragraph 6 attempts to provide a preliminary assessment of the new industrial policy, discussing firstly the theoretical and empirical reasons that today, all around the world, make it one of the key areas of public policy, and secondly the European case. Paragraph 7 shortly concludes the work.