The project

Industrial policy and energy policy have now returned to the centre of European debate, in connection with the European Union’s economic growth, the structural imbalances that continue to affect it, and the need to reconcile energy security, green transition, and competitiveness. Against this backdrop, the project examines, from a historical and interdisciplinary perspective, the relationship between European integration, industrial policy, and energy policy, offering analytical tools to better understand present transformations and help guide future choices.

The research focuses on several key turning points in the history of European economic integration in the second half of the twentieth century — from the creation of the ECSC to the establishment of EURATOM, and from the crises of the 1970s to the recovery projects of the 1980s — exploring the role of European institutions, nation-states, and supranational bodies in financing industrial and energy policies, as well as Europe’s relations with other geopolitical regions, such as the United States, the Soviet Union, and post-colonial African countries.

Coordinated by Professor Daniela Felisini (Università di Roma Tor Vergata) and Professor Elisa Grandi (Université Paris Cité) with support from the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Énergies de Demain (LIED), the project builds on the strengthening of an already established collaboration between the two institutions, particularly within the framework of the Master in European History (MEH) and international co-supervision of doctoral theses. A central element of the project is the mobility of the two lead professors, who taught in each other’s courses at the partner universities, enriching the curriculum with modules focused on the history of European industrial and energy policies.

These teaching exchanges are accompanied by the mobility of doctoral candidates and Master’s students, focused on archival research, participation in seminars, teaching experiences, and internship opportunities at the two institutions. The interdisciplinary dialogue between the institutions and the participants involved in these exchanges will be further enriched by several academic initiatives, including a doctoral seminar, two closing conferences in Rome and Paris, and a scientific publication.