EU leaders must pursue open and competitive markets to unlock Europe’s economic potential
On the 28th October, leaders of 19 European business organisations have come together to sign a Call to Action, charting a course to address the continent’s competitiveness problem, on behalf of a broad business community, including large companies, SMEs, and the industrial and services sectors.
It calls on EU leaders to:
•create a properly functioning single market;
•unlock the potential of Europe’s digital economy;
•deliver better regulation in practice – not just on paper;
•foster the EU’s strengths in global trade;
•ensure an efficient green transition;
•and build an agile workforce for a sustainable, knowledge-based economy.
Europe Unlocked’s Call to Action provides 14 essential steps toward meeting all of these priorities.
“The route to improved productivity performance is openness and market-driven economic development. We see a risk in the current political debate that policy coalesces around self-sufficiency and state intervention, a blind alley for the European economy. We need clarity of vision in the discussion on competitiveness which is why we are coming together today to put forward our preferred policy programme to achieve a faster-growing and productive economy,” said Kieran O’Keeffe, executive director of Europe Unlocked.
“We need a whole economy approach if we are going to be successful, one that raises the prospects not just of Europe’s industrial base but also services, and small businesses as well as large.
“A whole economy approach means maintaining a relentless focus on the business environment by reducing regulatory burden and frictions to cross border and global trade. We should not expend political effort on picking winners or favoured sectors but instead focus on how we build open and competitive markets that will help everybody to thrive,” Mr O’Keeffe said.
“Failure to confront our competitive decline will erode Europe’s international influence, compromise our economic security, derail our green and digital ambitions, and inflict lasting damage on the EU’s fundamental legitimacy and value,” he said.
Europe Unlocked is a campaign coalition of European business organisations, representing small and large businesses from the industrial and services sectors from across Europe, all committed to making the case for a renewed focus on open and competitive markets under the next Commission.
