
Public Money Must Come With Public Obligations for Europe’s Industry
Steel and chemical plants cannot wait 10 years for cheap power, and the Industrial Accelerator Act needs teeth.
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Judith Kirton-Darling is general secretary of industriAll European Trade Union. She was a British member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2020 and confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.

Steel and chemical plants cannot wait 10 years for cheap power, and the Industrial Accelerator Act needs teeth.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Jan Willem Goudriaan
Two union leaders warn that waste, repair and recycling jobs risk becoming Europe’s next low-pay, high-hazard market.

Judith Kirton-Darling, Philippe Pochet and Laurent Standaert
Brussels wants to double recycling by 2030, but efficiency targets alone cannot build a fairer, more resilient economy.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
The Commission’s optional “EU company” lets firms register anywhere and sidestep the national rules that protect workers.

Europe’s industrial transition risks becoming a social tsunami; only binding labour guarantees, not soft coordination, can prevent it.

The US–Israeli strikes on Iran lay bare every fault line in Europe’s energy dependence, industrial fragility, and strategic exposure — and demand an immediate policy response.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
Blaming labour protections for factory closures is not industrial policy — it is avoidance dressed as reform.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
As geopolitical threats mount and the far right advances, Europe must respond with principled strength and genuine industrial renewal.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
Across 18 sectors, only aerospace and defence remain globally competitive—Europe must abandon naivety and act decisively.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
As tariff wars and industrial crises mount, Europe must abandon austerity for investment-driven internal demand.

As EU leaders prioritise military spending, millions of industrial workers face austerity and job losses amid Europe’s growing polycrisis.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
Europe must act now to secure industrial jobs, ensure a Just Transition, and strengthen social conditions.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
The EU faces a stark choice: invest boldly in a sustainable, competitive future or risk repeating the mistakes of austerity.

Judith Kirton-Darling and Isabelle Barthès
The report on European ‘competitiveness’ is good on industrial strategy but poor from a social perspective.

The far right offers no answers to the challenges Europe faces in reinvigorating its industry amid the digital and green transitions.

The choices EU leaders make in the coming years will determine whether European industry has a long-term future.