Building a New European Competitiveness Deal
Six Tests for a Prosperous, Resilient, Fair and Green Economy
Securing geopolitical, economic and social stability is a priority for European leaders as they finalise the Strategic Agenda for the next five years. As the EU faces acute competitiveness challenges, heads of state have called for a “New European Competitiveness Deal”. Policymakers will have to learn from the past and effectively leverage Europe’s strengths through innovative, inspirational thinking and decisive, joint action.
With elections and the following new political cycle ahead, competitiveness has dominated EU politics. Prominent examples are the report on the future of the single market by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi’s forthcoming report on the future of European competitiveness.
A prosperous and competitive Europe is expected to be one of the three pillars of the EU’s Strategic Agenda. This will make competitiveness a prominent part of a policy framework that links to other areas, including climate action, energy security and social cohesion. The content and framing of a New European Competitiveness Deal will therefore deeply impact the parameters and pace for addressing a wide range of political objectives.
Six tests for the New European Competitiveness Deal
In the context of the upcoming June European Council, we – together with E3G and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, have drawn on our respective areas of expertise to develop six tests for a New European Competitiveness Deal to ensure that it is fit for the future, to the benefit of Europeans citizens and businesses.
- Competitive Sustainability Test: Does the deal seize the competitive advantage for Europe, going all out for the green transition building on a new paradigm of competitiveness?
- European Unity Test: Does the deal make a step change towards a genuinely integrated European approach to reap the benefits of Europe’s diverse and unique strengths and assets?
- Investment Scaling Test: Is the deal backed by a substantial rise in common EU resource and action to leverage private capital, setting the conditions for their effective usage?
- Smart Regulation Test: Does the deal leverage the innovation potential of the internal market through smart and impactful regulation?
- Social Cohesion Test: Does the deal make the delivery of broader societal benefits a central priority, through a fully inclusive process?
- Foreign Policy Test: Is the deal internationally resilient and grounded in fair global rules?
This briefing was jointly written with E3G and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). The main contributors from CISL are Martin Porter, Adeline Rochet and Diana Potjomkina.
