Europe Needs Industrial Policy for Services
20. October 2025High-level conference discusses contours of an industrial policy for services
Services are the backbone of Europe’s economy, driving employment, value creation and societal well-being. But despite their critical role, the services sectors remain underrepresented in the European industrial policy debate. To close this gap, UNI Europa organised a first high-level conference on industrial policy for services on 15 October 2025.
Frank Werneke, Chair of German union and UNI affiliate ver.di, which hosted the conference in its Berlin headquarters, opened the conference with a call for the European Union to take services seriously: “The key factor here is good work and high-quality services must be at the heart of such a political strategy, in the sense of a high road to a service-based society.” In addition to public investments, he emphasised that “European industrial policy for services must focus on creating jobs protected by collective agreements.”
Lieveke Norga, General Secretary of ACV-CSC and UNI Europa’s 1st Vice-President, moderated a first debate on why Europe needs an industrial policy for services.
Harvard economist Dani Rodrik kicked off the discussion, making a convincing case for why Europe needs an industrial policy for services: “Today, all over Europe, around only 15 per cent of the workforce is employed in manufacturing – and the number keeps falling. Therefore, manufacturing will not be a labour-absorbing sector but, in fact, will be a labour-shedding sector. If we also consider the small proportion of agricultural workers, that leaves only services as the sector where jobs will be created.”
Thomas Fricke, Founding Director of Forum New Economy, traced back the shifting economic paradigm from free-market liberalism to industrial policy over the past two decades. He highlighted the Berlin declaration signed by a series of world-leading economists – including Dani Rodrik and Mariana Mazzucato – as a clear testament to the widespread acceptance of the new economic paradigm. He emphasised: “This paradigm shift of economic policy just in the making will help very much to bring about a high-level services economy.”
Mehdi Hocine, Head of Unit for Services Strategy & Mutual Recognition in the European Commission, said: “You have got a more harmonised approach in the manufacturing industry. This is the fundamental difference with services, where might need a sectoral approach.”
“The economic paradigm shift right is slowly trickling up to the European level. The talk is there, but the action is still somewhat missing. And I hope this will be the last hoorah of neoliberalism – and the 28th regime will be a case in point here. We don’t need it, we don’t want it,” concluded Oliver Roethig, UNI Europa Regional Secretary. He added: “We want to have a dynamic internal market, but we don’t want negative competition in services. So that harmonisation that goes upward towards job quality for everyone.”
In the afternoon, Mireille Herriberry, Federal Secretary FO Banques and Vice President of UNI Europa Finance, moderated a second debate on the concrete shape an industrial policy for services should take.
Peter Hellberg, Chairman of Unionen and UNI Europa President, spoke about fighting against the use of non-compete clauses in the services industry, as they undermine the bargaining power of service workers: “We have very strong indications that the use of non-compete clauses is rising not just in tech and other high competence sectors, but also in every sector with standardised contracts. We need more effective mechanisms to challenge this process.”
Christiane Kutil, ver.di Federal Executive Committee for the Banking Industry, raised the topic of AI in the banking sector: “AI should only be used where it makes everyday work easier or adds value for customers. Now, the workload of employees is already so high that AI is not even useful – at least with the current technology.”
Michael Schrodi, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance, outlined the German government’s perspective on industrial policy for services: “The service sector plays a prominent role in the German and European economies, generating most gross value added – and is also becoming increasingly important in exports.” And he added: “We in the Federal Government are well aware that the service sector is also indispensable for the transformation of industry.” On the example of payment services, Schrodi said: “Service providers allow a certain amount of sovereignty for Germany and Europe. The state must sometimes intervene in some way – either through tax relief, appropriate investment incentives, direct subsidies or direct entry – to ensure that such services are offered.”
Echoing the importance of the public purse, Christian Schadow, ver.di Trade Union Secretary for Property Services, told participants: “The security industry employed around 280,000 people in Germany in 2024, with a turnover of over 14 billion euros. The largest client for the private security industry is the public sector. With neoliberal restructuring, the state itself was responsible for the emergence of a large group of profit-seeking employers from a sufficient and secure public sector workforce. Consequently, we as a trade union began to organise the workers so they could fight for better working conditions.”
Jeff Nonato, Trade Union Secretary FILCAMS-CGIL and President of UNI Europa Commerce, closed the debate insisting on the importance of skills and training: “Industrial policy for services could also include training as a way to shift balance of power in the commerce sector. When a shop worker has certified skills, they deserve recognition and the level of pay for their increased value.” He added: “Concretely, in Italy, every time we negotiate the national contract, we not only talk about pay, but we also discuss how training should be organised, financed and guaranteed.”
Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, concluded the conference: “What became clear today is that services is really the backbone of our economy – and shouldn’t be treated just as an add-on to manufacturing.”