EU to update Industrial Strategy in 2021: Ursula von der Leyen

Brussels: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the European Union (EU) will update the Industrial Strategy in the first half of 2021 to "take stock of where we are with industrial alliances for key technologies and with efforts to improve our resilience such as on raw materials".

She made the remarks on Friday following the conclusion of a two-day meet between EU leaders in Brussels to discuss foreign affairs and the bloc's economic base, the Commission said in a statement.

On Friday, the second day of the meeting, the leaders discussed the EU's single market, industrial policy and digital transformation.

"President von der Leyen spoke about improving the single market, in particular with regard to remaining barriers and problems with an implementation that can deprive companies of the benefits of a large market," the statement said.

"To accelerate the pace in this area, the Commission will present a first monitoring report early next year.

"We will then build on this to work concretely with member states and stakeholders to resolve the problems companies face on a daily basis", she was quoted as saying.

Besides this, the leaders also discussed the situation in Belarus; tensions between Turkey and Greece; and adopted conclusions on China and the case of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.