Riccardo Cappellin ( Università degli Studi di Roma): "An European “Industrial Strategy” oriented to the citizens and the territory for a stronger European identity"

ABSTRACT
The relaunch of growth in Europe requires, alongside the objective of stability of the financial system and the reduction of the public deficit and debt, also a new economic policy, which aims at an expansion of domestic demand in Europe, in order to pull (with a demand led strategy) innovations and investments for a reconversion towards new productions, capable of giving an answer to the new needs for a better quality of life for the European citizens. The European Union must not only use monetary policy or public budget policy, but also a third instrument of economic policy, which is that of an "industrial strategy", whose strategic lines must be coordinated on a European scale.
In particular, the new industrial policy does not have as its interlocutor only the enterprises, but also the people, who carry out three different roles in the economy. This new "industrial policy oriented towards citizens and the territory" must be made:
• with people as workers who have increasingly higher skills and want to realize their personality at work,
• for people as consumers who need increasingly complex and want to realize their personality in their free time,
• with citizens who have common values and a common identity and participate in collective decision-making processes in a given territory, country and European institutions.
The field of intervention by crucial importance for a new European Industrial Strategy is to promote the development, especially in urban areas and the cities networks, of those new goods and services, which are linked to collective needs that are increasingly important for citizens and also have a clear economic importance in terms of employment and production, such as a) nutrition; b) accommodation; c) mobility and logistics; d) culture and leisure and media; e) health, social assistance and education; f) environment, energy saving and spatial planning.
In particular, a modern industrial strategy "oriented to citizens and the territory" must take into account the interaction between four types of actors in a modern industrial system: 1) companies, 2) workers, 3) the community of citizens, which they are also consumers and savers, 4) the territory, the cities networks and the natural environment.
A new industrial strategy cannot be adopted unless there is a relationship of trust between the different countries and regions based on a common European identity. However, a new industrial strategy that raises GDP growth and improves the quality of life of the European citizens, with investments and innovations and greater employment, contributes to creating a common identity, stimulates common trust and strengthens the European institutions.
The presentation is based on a document, published on Academia.edu in December 2018 (https://uniroma2.academia.edu/RiccardoCappellin) and signed by 70 Italian economists, which has widely circulated at an international scale.