Von der Leyen’s second term: towards business-friendly direction – details will matter
Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as the European Commission President on 18.7. Before the vote, von der Leyen presented her political guidelines for the coming term, with strong focus on competitiveness and security.
Competitiveness must above all, be built on a well functioning single market, more needs to be done for example in the service, energy and defence sectors. Von der Leyen ensured higher quality of impact assessments , reduction of administrative burden and reporting obligations for companies, better enforcement of legislation and faster permitting. These are indeed warmly welcomed improvements. It is also in the interest of European businesses to complete the Capital Markets Union.
Von der Leyen stressed the need to focus on common and cross-border European projects. They must promote competitiveness and innovation in response to dependence on China and United States. The new Clean Industry Deal must enable investments in clean and strategic technologies as well as energy-intensive industries.
Von der Leyen brought up that Europe must be able to develop and manufacture strategic technologies in the future, from artificial intelligence to clean technologies. To support this, Von der Leyen proposed the creation of a European Competitiveness Fund as part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework. The Confederation of Finnish Industries proposed similar model already at the beginning of this year, a fund for strategic investments and to prevent the single market fragmentation due to increased state aid competition.
The Green Deal program has been reformulated to Clean Industrial Deal in her new political guidelines. Von der Leyen reminded that the climate crisis continues to accelerate rapidly. Decarbonisation must proceed quickly, and at the same time, the European economy must be industrialised.
Not compromising on climate targets is also in the interest of companies. The new Clean Industry Deal to be proposed next autumn must support sustainable growth and be technology neutral. Von der Leyen’s idea of keeping Green Deal goals and implementing them in a pragmatic and technology-neutral manner is indeed welcomed.
The direction of the new Commission looks good from the businesses’ point of view. Together we must create an environment that attracts investments and a competitive sustainable economy in Europe.
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