Europe’s drive to rebuild its industrial base should be shaped around the strengths of individual regions and their local supply chains, local and regional leaders meeting in Valencia have said.
The message was raised at a seminar of the European Committee of the Regions’ Commission for Economic Policy (ECON) on 23 October, organised with the regional government of Valencia, the CoR said.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is an EU advisory body representing local and regional authorities.
Participants discussed how EU industrial policy could translate into investments that reflect the differing circumstances of Europe’s regions.
They said cooperation was needed between national governments, regions, cities and “industrial ecosystems” — networks of businesses and institutions linked by a sector or supply chain.
The group also said industrial investment should be judged not only by how much money is spent, but by whether it creates value locally.
Local and regional authorities should be involved in designing and delivering EU industrial policy because of their knowledge of conditions on the ground.
Funding talks and resilience
The seminar took place as negotiations begin on the EU’s next long-term budget for 2028 to 2034, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework, the CoR said.
It added that it opposed a proposal it described as leading to more centralisation and “renationalisation” of EU funding.
Attendees also called for closer links between local industry and education, universities and technology centres, and said small and medium-sized enterprises should be placed “at the heart” of industrial policy.
After the meeting, participants visited automotive supplier Industrias Alegre in Albal, Valencia, which the organisation said was among the companies most severely affected by the October 2024 DANA floods.
Alberto Cirio, chair of the CoR’s ECON commission and president of Italy’s Piedmont region, said Europe’s reindustrialisation should be “based on the strengths and needs of its regions” and backed by cooperation across government, business, workers and research institutions.
Ruth Merino, a member of the ECON commission and Valencia’s regional vice-minister for representation to the EU, said extreme weather in recent years had disrupted regional economies and that reindustrialisation needed to take those risks into account.
Marián Cano, Valencia’s regional minister for innovation, industry, trade and tourism, declared that Europe should move from an industrial policy focused on sectors to one that “fully incorporates the territorial dimension.”
