Themes
The Institute
Don’t miss out
Dunkirk embodies France's industrial revival: a strategic region where decarbonisation, reindustrialisation and public-private investment come together. This report by the Institut Montaigne identifies the conditions that have enabled this momentum and proposes 10 concrete recommendations to sustainably strengthen national and European industrial ambition.
The Chips Diplomacy Support Initiative (CHIPDIPLO) is an 18-month project led by the Institut Montaigne and co-funded by the European Commission. It aims to strengthen Europe's semiconductor strategy in the face of geopolitical tensions. Its objectives are to anticipate industrial risks, coordinate member states' policies and develop international partnerships. The consortium brings together experts, industrialists and researchers to analyze the challenges and provide recommendations to the EU. CHIPDIPLO supports the EU Chips Act and promotes Europe's attractiveness for innovation and investment.
China’s economic model remains driven by export expansion rather than domestic rebalancing. This policy brief examines the forces behind China’s competitiveness, including subsidies, currency undervaluation, and industrial overcapacity. As Chinese exports to Europe rise, European policymakers face difficult choices between protecting their economies, maintaining trade relations, and developing a coordinated response compatible with WTO rules while managing broader geopolitical and Asian partnerships.
Energy will be at the heart of the new European Commission’s mandate. What are the obstacles to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050? This first note focuses on the evolution of the European energy–climate governance.
Amid geopolitical tensions and strategic vulnerabilities, the future of European semiconductors will be decided by 2031.
Two years after the publication of the Draghi Report on European competitiveness, around 30% of its 567 recommendations have been implemented. While the European Union is broadly on schedule, most of the proposed reforms still remain to be carried out. Faced with persistent economic, technological, and energy-related challenges, Europe must accelerate and deepen its transformation efforts to safeguard its competitiveness, sovereignty, and prosperity in an increasingly competitive global environment.
Despite India's robust economic growth—8.4% in the last quarter of 2023—the economic relationship between Europe and India remains underwhelming. How can France and Europe fully capitalize on the "Indian moment" that is shaping the 21st century?
At the heart of technological rivalry, semiconductors are bringing the EU and Taiwan closer together, forming a cornerstone of AI value chains. Cross-investments and interdependence are intensifying despite persistent obstacles. The study calls for stronger cooperation: improving the industrial environment, boosting R&D, investment, talent mobility, and advancing a European strategy to secure supply chains.
A challenge for competitiveness and economic dynamism, both nationally and in Europe, discover our 2026 barometer of production taxes.
Shein's arrival at BHV reveals a broader challenge for Europe: an integrated Chinese model, based on AI and mass logistics, which is disrupting retail and the single market. Beyond the controversy, the stakes are strategic: regulation of e-commerce, economic sovereignty, and long-term European competitiveness.
China is massively expanding strategic reserves of food, energy and critical minerals to shield itself from global shocks, stabilise prices and build geopolitical leverage. For Europe, this stockpiling strategy is a wake-up call. The EU must prioritise which materials to secure, decide how to share costs, and choose whether to act at national or European scale. Doing nothing may leave Europe dangerously exposed.
Europe’s semiconductor supply chains face rising geopolitical risks, from Chinese pressure to U.S. export threats and East Asian conflict scenarios. This policy paper argues Europe must choose between autonomy and indispensability. Full autonomy is unrealistic; pure dependence is dangerous. The authors conclude that Europe’s best path is “Allied Autonomy, European Indispensability”: securing strategic choke points, embedding them in trusted partnerships, and strengthening resilience through targeted policy actions.
Europe stands at a critical turning point in its clean-energy transition. Its dependence on Chinese-controlled value chains for batteries, solar, wind and other core technologies threatens long-term competitiveness and industrial sovereignty. This paper argues that market access should require strong local value chains through EU-majority joint ventures and tailored local content rules. It identifies gaps in the EU framework and presents concrete recommendations and a 2026–2035 roadmap to secure Europe’s technological autonomy.
Russian drone incursions and cyber attacks in 2025 threaten Europe. This note analyses the risk of Russian escalation, the impact of American disengagement, and possible responses from NATO and the EU to secure the Baltic states.
Newsletter
Let’s analyse the news together every week