Competitiveness and industry

Background

Competitiveness is back on the EU's political agenda. While this has long been requested from the business community, the need to guarantee the competitiveness of the EU economy, and in particular its industry, is now high on the list of political priorities.

In August 2022, the US signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, appropriating massive subsidies to spur investment in clean energy technologies, hydrogen production and industrial decarbonisation projects. The EU is currently lagging behind when it comes to the incentives being introduced there and in other parts of the world, and must find ways to increase the EU's manufacturing capacity and industrial value chains for key energy technologies with low carbon emissions, without creating disparities between its countries and regions.

The Spanish presidency, which has been promoting the concept of EU competitiveness, has asked the EESC to look into this issue: "We find ourselves in a situation where industry is relocating because it is finding better conditions outside of the EU while the portion of industry that is staying put is seeing the supply chains of many basic products breaking up. The time has come for a clear assessment of what type of economy we want in the EU."

Key points

The EESC advises as follows:

• Industrial policy has a twofold approach: from the EU and from each Member State. Coordinated governance is needed to avoid mismatches between countries. The EU institutions must take the lead, taking a practical and realistic approach.
• Nothing can be done without a highly skilled, digital public administration, and without good regulations. We have many examples of useless laws in every layer of activity. Better regulation will mean less regulation: reducing bureaucracy, simplifying processes, tackling corruption and setting new product and market standards.
• The single market is the real cornerstone of the EU. We must strengthen it and avoid its fragmentation, maintaining a sound EU-wide State aid regulation to avoid stronger economies essentially "doping" their companies with excessive resources, providing an unfair competitive advantage.
• A skilled and well-trained workforce is key to a competitive economy. Improving digital skills and reducing the labour shortage should be priorities."

Link to full opinion

Additional information

EESC section responsible: Single Market, Production and Consumption (INT)

Opinion type: exploratory opinion requested by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU

Rapporteur: Andrés BARCELÓ DELGADO  (Employers – ES)

Co-rapporteur: Angelo PAGLIARA (Workers – IT)

Date of adoption by section: 03/10/2023

Result of the vote: 71votes in favour, none against, with 1 abstention

Date of adoption by plenary: 25/10/2023

Result of the vote: 196 votes in favour, 1 against, with 4 abstentions

Contacts

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