Policy project: How does the international context of growing polarisation and tendencies towards self-sufficiency force the EU to adapt through a rethinking of its industrial, trade and competition policy?

In order to reach “open strategic autonomy” and to thwart market asymmetries from third country actors, the EU needs to focus both on its industrial policy and on trade- & market defense mechanisms. Different trade-offs are to be faced: 1/industrial-strength vs green development; 2/protection from unfair competition vs market liberalism; or 3/ protecting consumer interests for qualitative and affordable products vs protecting company interests against third-country companies fueled by foreign subsidies for instance… Stakeholders reach from the citizen (consumer and workforce) to the financial institution (lending money for industrial projects) via companies (implementing the strategy), universities (carrying out the R&D activities for future-oriented technology branches and ecosystems), and institutions (dealing with industrial, labor, research, competition policy…).

Marie Krpata studied international public law, European politics and international relations. After that she had the opportunity to work at the intersection between the public and private sectors. She notably spent 3 years working in the airport consulting sector on projects in Brazil, Chile and South Africa. Marie is now working as a Research Fellow at the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations at the Ifri since September 2020.

There, she carried out research on the German car industry and the challenges it is facing and was appointed as an expert at the European Economic and Social Council in the frame of an advisory opinion on the EU’s industrial strategy. She also co-wrote a study about the EU in the Indo-Pacific. Her current research activities lead to assess the EU’s dependencies on China. Besides her research activities Marie is also in charge of a program on the future of multilateralism.

(As of July 2022)