EIES Recommendations: No security without strategic technologies: Europe’s last chance to preserve its industrial and defence base
06 March 2026
Author: EIES
Read the Recommendation Paper.
Neutral market forces no longer govern strategic technologies. Major economies deploy coordinated industrial policy at scale, with control over critical supply chains increasingly shaping geopolitical influence. Against this backdrop, the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is a welcome step towards strengthening Europe’s industrial base and to create clear, predictable demand for European products in clean energy and strategic sectors.
If the EU wants to avoid defaulting to tariffs as its primary tool to defend its industry, creating demand through simple and straightforward local content criteria in procurement, auctions and public support schemes remain the only credible lever to prevent batteries and other strategic technologies from following the trajectory of Europe’s solar photovoltaic (PV) industry.
This is essential to bolster Europe’s industrial and technological capacity and mitigate security threats amid rising global geopolitical risks. While other major economies have long used demand-side tools to anchor production at home - from China’s “Made in China” to “Buy American” provisions in the United States - Europe is only now beginning to deploy comparable instruments.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of the IAA will depend on its design and implementation. The Regulation currently risks becoming overly complex, as multiple rules, exemptions, and eligibility criteria could dilute its core objective of creating demand for European products, such as batteries, needed for its energy and defence needs. The instrument could become a bureaucratic compliance exercise, weakening the demand signal that European industry needs to scale production and attract investment.
For the IAA to deliver, European preference must be targeted, enforceable and focused on the most strategically exposed segments of the value chain. The IAA must send a credible signal that Europe will support domestic manufacturing to secure investments in its strategic technologies. This is needed to counter global market dominance and technological competition, especially from China.