In its ‘vision paper’ published on 26 October, the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) expressed concern that the EU is “lagging behind” the United States and China in terms of economic growth and innovation.
The group of 60 leading industrial companies is calling for further integration of the EU’s single market, a capital markets union and better incentives for investment in Europe.
The document shows, for example, that the EU spends far less than its global competitors on research and development: just 2.27% of GDP, compared with 2.40% in China and 3.45% in the United States.
“Europe’s success relies on growth”, write the companies, which believe “the European Commission must spearhead an ‘encompassing programme’ to shape a common market across all policy areas, including energy, digital, capital, environment and defence”.
ERT also says it will be attentive to the conclusions of Enrico Letta’s forthcoming report: “We are calling for political investment in the deepening of the single market – by bringing EU economies and markets closer together, it presents a chance to improve Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and security”, reads the document from the industry group, which hopes to influence the work of the next Commission in 2024.
See the vision paper: https://aeur.eu/f/9ca (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)