Brussels: The European Commission is set to introduce its Competitiveness Compass next week, aiming to maintain economic growth throughout the upcoming decades, as announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the initiative will center on enhancing productivity by bridging the innovation gap, formulating a unified plan for decarbonization and competitiveness, addressing skill and labor shortages, and reducing bureaucratic barriers. Von der Leyen outlined these goals during her address at the annual Davos summit.
The Competitiveness Compass is built on three key foundations: creating a unified capital market, eliminating 27 national legislative barriers for businesses to establish a single European Union legislation framework, and reducing energy dependency through clean, advanced energy technologies.
The first foundation seeks to consolidate European capital markets into a unified savings and investments union, preventing the outflow of European citizens' investments overseas. Von der Leyen highlighted that approximately £300 billion ($313.2 billion) of European family savings are invested abroad annually, impeding the growth of tech start-ups and the innovative clean tech sector.
The second foundation aims to simplify business operations across Europe by establishing a single set of legislation for businesses. Currently, companies face 27 different national legislations across the EU member states. Von der Leyen proposed the '28th regime,' allowing innovative companies to operate throughout the EU under one consistent set of rules, leveraging the continent's scale in the global market.
The third foundation focuses on diminishing Europe's energy dependency by investing in next-generation clean energy technologies. Von der Leyen noted that Europe already generates more electricity from wind and solar than from fossil fuels. However, further efforts are needed to extend these benefits to businesses and citizens. The plan includes diversifying energy supplies, expanding renewable energy sources, and investing in advanced technologies like fusion, enhanced geothermal, and solid-state batteries.