The President of the European Council, António Costa, addressed the members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on Wednesday 4 December. His visit, on the fourth day of his term of office, was welcomed by the EESC President Oliver Röpke.
After stressing the importance of including the social partners in the development of European policies, Mr Costa focused on the EU’s competitiveness in his speech.
In his view, the first step in making Europe competitive is to strengthen the Single Market. This has been “frozen at a certain level of integration”, he said. “We need to make it easier to bring business across borders, especially small and medium-sized companies. We need to make it easier for many more services to cross borders. And for capital, because the fragmentation we see today is preventing innovative companies from scaling up”.
He supported the principles of clear rules and a reduction in the administrative burden for businesses.
The EU’s competitiveness goes hand in hand with investment, he also stressed. While the mobilisation of private capital in the EU is vital, the injection of public funds is also “essential”, in his view: “We should look at the next EU budget with an open mind”. And to reiterate the importance of treating member countries and their investment needs on a case-by-case basis.
At the European Council, which he chairs, the Heads of State or Government are divided on the idea of adding new headings to the EU budget to support industry. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)