The hard coal industry in western Europe has been in decline for many years. This study examines its future prospects and finds no reason to believe that the trend will be reversed. The author shows how the manner and rate of this decline will continue to be determined as much by political as by economic factors, including the politics of environmental controls and market liberalization, where developments have been increasingly unfavourable to coal.

A centrally directed policy by the European Union to protect indigenous coal production has never seemed likely, with the policies of member states showing wide divergences. Above all, there has been a marked contrast between the UK policy of rapid contraction of its relatively efficient industry, and the German policy of continuing massive subsidization of its very high-cost industry, with slow adaptation by consensus. This great anomaly cannot be understood without looking at the politics.