Date: 2023
Type: Thesis
After market making : the political economy of EU industrial policy
Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis
SCHMITZ, Luuk Pieter Hendrik, After market making : the political economy of EU industrial policy, Florence : European University Institute, 2023, EUI, SPS, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75975
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
The fate of European integration hinges on the governance of its industries. In the 1980s, marketoriented regulation became dominant, aiming for competitiveness and efficiency through open markets. However, a series of highly visible interventions in markets reveal a shift in the EU’s stance against industrial policy. The dissertation argues that geopolitics and climate change have exposed the limits of a market making Europe, leading to a greater role for the state in correcting and directing markets, vested at the European level. Similar to the 1980s, the fear of industrial decline and the actions of national executives, business leaders, and EU bureaucrats are driving this change. The thesis captures the shift to an EU-level, market-directing industrial policy in both discourse and policy. Notions of strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty have rallied a coalition of neo-mercantilist and socially oriented actors in favor of a more interventionist industrial policy. In terms of policies, the thesis focuses on the green and digital transitions, showcasing the launch of industrial alliances and the reorientation of state aid rules as ways to overcome the limited fiscal and bureaucratic capacities at the EU level. The thesis also emphasizes the need for destruction alongside creation in the green transition, explaining the move away from a market-only emission-trading system. The thesis documents political conflict between EU Commission DGs, member states, and policy domains. Finally, the thesis shows that at the member state level, the reorientation of Germany to EU-level industrial policy since 2016 has been the driving force for many initiatives. Overall, the dissertation calls for a reassessment of global political economy dynamics in EU integration studies, the integration of business power and industrial policy perspectives, and a deeper understanding of the shift in EU economic governance towards market-correcting and market-directing policies.
Additional information:
Defence date: 23 October 2023; Examining Board: Prof. Anton Hemerijck, (European University Institute, supervisor); Prof. Erik Jones, (European University Institute); Prof. Kathleen R. McNamara, (Georgetown University); Dr. Angela Wigger, (Radboud University)
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75975
Full-text via DOI: 10.2870/517261
Series/Number: EUI; SPS; PhD Thesis
Publisher: European University Institute
LC Subject Heading: Industrial policy--European Union countries; European Union countries--Economic policy