The article looks at why the European Union needs a common industrial policy. The author analyzes contemporary offshoring trends and accompanying political developments. In the modern global economy, industrial production is increasingly being transferred from Europe to countries such as China, India and Vietnam, the author says. Meanwhile, Europe’s emerging knowledge-based economy is not creating new jobs fast enough, he adds. There is an increasingly popular trend among the European power elites as well as the public to defend jobs in industry; this is often accompanied by nationalist arguments, according to Hryniewicz. If this trend continues, it may produce conflicts within Europe, the author argues. Such a scenario should be prevented by establishing a new common European industrial policy, Hryniewicz says, adding that the common industrial policy could help enhance the role of European institutions abroad and facilitate the process of restructuring the EU economy and its transition from an industrial system to one based on knowledge. The most important strategic area of common industrial policy should be to facilitate the emergence of national industrial research complexes designed to saturate industries with advanced technology, the author argues. Other strategic areas, according to Hryniewicz, include promoting the networking of customers and suppliers, enforcement of intellectual property rights, participation in the shaping of a European energy policy, and supporting consumer initiatives and organizations.