Industrial policy of European Union and tools for its implementation: experience for Ukraine

Relevance of the article consists in the possibility of taking into account the European experience in the formation of industrial policy in Ukraine to reduce the vulnerability of the domestic economy in the face of many global challenges (depletion of natural energy resources, aging population, growing income differentiation, environmental degradation), which require today such a tool that would have assisted in the formation of a new industrial strategy. The purpose of the article is to investigate the formation of the industrial policy of the European Union (hereinafter - EU) and the instruments of its implementation, and draw conclusions regarding the application of the European experience in Ukraine. In the article the peculiarities of national industrial policies and instruments of its implementation in countries such as Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Sweden are given as an example. It is determined that in the industrial policy of the EU in recent years a comprehensive approach has been dominating to the choice of priorities and implementation tools which have been associated with the solution of basic problems such as employment of the workforce and increasing of the expenditures for research and development. Moreover, the conclusion is drown that the formation of effective industrial policy depends on what role the state plays in this process, in particular, to achieve a high level of human capital improving the education system. The tools of modern industrial policy in the EU are the optimization of the financial sector of economy as the most important basis for development of industry as well as improvement of budgetary, fiscal, monetary, financial, institutional, trade, investment and innovation policy. In general, European industrial policy is increasingly understood as a policy of support for knowledge-intensive and high-tech sectors of the economy, which are the significant tools for European framework program for research and development.