This is set to be THE main topic of the European spring summit, which opens on Thursday 19 March in Brussels.
The competitiveness of European businesses will indeed be an important topic at the meeting of European leaders, as requested by the EU27 on 12 February at Alden Biesen, but the discussion will take place in a new context of urgency marked by the rise in energy costs caused by the war in the Middle East (see other news).
And it is on this major new obstacle to competitiveness that Europe’s leaders are expected to focus, with fresh calls for reform of the ‘ETS’ system for trading CO2 emissions quotas.
While the latest draft conclusions have been relatively stable, the discussion on competitiveness could also be more intense on the concept of European preference, anticipates a European diplomat, while the Member States do not have the same vision of how to protect the EU’s critical industrial sectors.
“The debate is continuing, and different Member States are adopting different positions. (...) But, in reality, it is not a question of saying that everything will be primarily European or that nothing will be. There will therefore be a possible compromise between the different positions”, commented a European source.
Although it had been announced in February, the European Commission is also likely to postpone the presentation of its “One Europe, One Market” roadmap until the informal meeting of European leaders in Cyprus, in April.
However, European leaders are expected to ask Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, for an update on the simplification efforts made so far, and to re-emphasise the need to validate the ‘omnibus’ packages already on the table as quickly as possible, as well as to propose new ones.
The latest draft conclusions set a number of deadlines for the Commission, but also for the EU’s co-legislators, such as the need to adopt the 28th company law regime before the end of 2026 or to reach agreement “by June 2026” on the electronic declaration for the posting of workers, which has been blocked in the EU Council since the end of 2025.
The co-legislators will also be asked to adopt the concept of ‘European preference’, through the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) before the end of the year.
The President of the Commission is also expected to inform the leaders of the College discussion, on 18 March, on the guidelines for mergers and acquisitions, the first version of which is due to be published in April.
Discussions on the Savings and Investment Union, the actions to be taken and the timetables to be respected will also be addressed in the context of this ‘competitiveness’ discussion.
Link to the latest draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/l8a
BusinessEurope reiterates its priorities. The employers’ organisation wrote to European leaders on 18 March to alert them to the new challenges posed by the war in the Middle East.
Among other things, it calls for the implementation of the 28th regime to be accelerated, for the ‘modernisation’ of the competition framework, and for the revision of public procurement legislation. It is also essential to bring down energy prices.
Link to the BusinessEurope letter: https://aeur.eu/f/l8e (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)