By Stefano Mallia, President of the Employers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee 

As the dust settles on the EU elections, it is clear that we are surrounded by severe turbulence. The Conservative win blocked the far-right landslide. Still, even though the centre-right held its position we cannot ignore that the hard right will be more powerful in the new European Parliament, making voting on key issues more complicated. We got a glimpse of that when the EPP narrowly failed to muster a right-wing blocking majority to kill off a nature restoration law last year. 

Topping the list of business concerns are ensuring progress in industrial policy and economic security, particularly in technology, critical raw materials, semiconductors, electric vehicles, economic resilience and overall competitiveness. Strengthening the single market and boosting private investment through a genuine capital markets union is essential. Will this new Parliament be up to the task? 

We have no other choice than to compete with global powers like China and the United States. 

In 2008, the eurozone and the US had equivalent gross domestic products (GDP) at current prices, of $14.2 trillion and $14.8 trillion respectively (€13.1 trillion and €13.6 trillion). Fifteen years on, the eurozone's GDP is just over $15 trillion, while that of the US has soared to $26.9 trillion. If the biggest five European economies — Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain — had matched America’s productivity growth rate between 1997 and 2022, their GDP per capita would on average be nearly $13,000 (€12.000) higher in purchasing-power-parity terms. These numbers are not without meaning. 

For many years, with the EU displaying a positive trade balance, many did not see that our competitiveness was at risk. We trusted the global level playing field and the rules-based international order, expecting others would do the same. But now the world is changing rapidly and the EU needs to up its game and respond quickly to all those wake-up calls that it has hitherto ignored. We hope this Parliament will be up to the task and not limit itself to party politics.