By the EESC Employers' Group

The Employers' Group congratulated Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on being re-elected in July and welcomed her political guidelines. These guidelines mark a significant shift towards addressing the challenge of crumbling competitiveness, acknowledging that this is a critical issue on a par with climate change and security. 

Competitiveness and prosperity are finally key priorities. The new European Prosperity Plan aims to ease business operations in Europe, deepen the Single Market and boost productivity through ground-breaking technologies. We particularly welcome the focus on making life easier for businesses by reducing administrative burdens, simplifying implementation and having a vice-president coordinate this aspect. 

The EESC Employers' Group has long called for this approach, as you can see in our priorities: Driving prosperity for all: A Competitiveness Agenda for the EU and we are eager to collaborate on aligning implementation with real-world conditions. The EU's competitiveness has been under severe threat for some time. While Europe continues to be one of the most innovative, secure and prosperous regions, it is falling behind the US and losing ground vis-à-vis China on various key metrics, such as GDP per capita growth, in which the US has been outperforming Europe for the last decade. More granular warning signs of this trend include the number of information and communications technology (ICT) patents and levels of foreign direct investment (FDI). 

This is why we particularly welcome the following priorities in the political guidelines for the next Commission:

•  A revamped competitiveness check and an Interinstitutional Agreement on simplification and better law-making 
• Turbo charging investment with a European Savings and Investments Union 
• Increasing research spending to focus on strategic priorities, ground-breaking research and scientific excellence 
• Establishing a new, EU-wide legal status to help innovative companies grow 
• A Clean Industrial Deal to invest in infrastructure and industry, bringing down energy prices and supporting companies in their greening efforts.