previous to 2008 ,however, the EU arguably had a much more significant impact in the realm of industrial policy. One recent example of this is the Lisbon Strategy, subsequently relaunched as the Europe 2020 strategy (Borras and Radaelli, 2011). the 'Lisbon Strategy' was launched in March 2000 and included a number of measures aimed at improving competitiveness in Europe, with the overall aim of the EU becoming the most 'competitive, sustainable, socially inclusive knowledge-based society' in the world (ibid.:480). These have included, from 2005, the production of economic policy guideline and targets, their implementation through periodic reform programmes, and performance monitoring (ibid.:465).