Over the past three decades, EU institutions have gradually shifted towards greater reliance on goal-based strategies. This implies formulating an array of objectives and targets to achieve in the medium to long term, often encompassing economic and social dimensions and gradually incorporating environmental ones.
This analysis first takes stock of the different long-term goals pursued by key EU policy initiatives, with specific emphasis on industrial strategy, the twin transition and the emerging economic security imperative. It then distinguishes between intermediate and ultimate objectives (clarifying the ‘North Star’) and discusses the use of relevant instruments for a coherent, multilevel EU industrial policy (e.g. backcasting and multi-criteria analysis). These are applied to a number of examples, such as transition pathways, as well as select cases of goal-based industrial policy in Member States and outside the EU. Finally, the analysis provides policy recommendations, specifically for DG GROW, to shape future EU industrial policy.
