The EU Chips Act as a Challenge to Power-Sharing and Convergence within the European Union

Abstract

The new industrial policy and the EU Chips Act as its new and important instrument bring a number of new elements to the standard concept of the roles of the EU and Member States in promoting industrial development. The key role should henceforth be played not by Member States, their national priorities and money, but by the EU as a whole, represented primarily by the European Commission. The article considers whether such a concept is in line with EU primary law and whether the EU Chips Act creates sufficient preconditions for the new EU industrial policy not to degenerate into the old competition over who will support the "national industrial champions" more and thus further divide the EU into centre and periphery. It concludes that while the innovative concept of the EU Chips Act strengthens the role of the Commission, the financial weakness of the EU's common budget still leaves strong levers in the hands of individual states. It will be up to the Commission, and in addition to the Commission, it will also depend on the activity and support of smaller and peripheral Member States, whether boosting the development of the chip industry will unite or divide the EU.

Keywords: EU new industrial policy; EU Chips Act, Art 173 TFEU, European Commission, conferred powers, EU State Aid, EU cohesion