When Germany Accepted a European Industrial Policy: Managing the Decline of Steel from 1977 to 1984.

From 1977 to 1984, an ambitious European industrial policy was implemented by the European Economic Community for the first and only time in its history. It dealt with the crisis of the steel sector. This paper strives to understand why member states chose this solution, despite the fact that some of them were hostile to the devolution of power to supranational institutions, as for example Britain or France. The most reluctant state was Germany, whose officials usually associated any attempts of EEC-wide industrial policy with dirigism. The paper, based on archives of three governments (Germany, France, the United Kingdom) and of the European Commission, argues that the European solution was best for member states, and in particular for Germany, in order to control their neighbours and avoid a costly subsidy race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]