Unveiling the pillars of EU Competitiveness – Statement by President von der Leyen at the #EPlenary
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thank you very much Madame President
honorable
members uh indeed competitiveness was
the topic of the European
Council and leaders taking the floor
recall that since the last European
elections our Union has really weathered
to crisis of historic
proportions the covid-19 Health crisis
and the war in Ukraine with a maiden
Russia energy
crisis they could have turned into a
dramatic economic and social crisis but
they didn’t and this was because of
Europe’s great
resilience but also because we put the
right policies in
place think of sure sure saved 40
million European jobs or think of Next
Generation EU or repow EU which
FastTrack the recovery and the
deployment of homegrown
Renewables I have not forgotten that in
2020 many predicted mass unemployment in
Europe and long
recession it did not happen because we
put the right policies in place and we
acted decisive ly instead today we have
more people at work than at any other
time in the European history
unemployment is at an all-time low at
less than
6% employment is an at an all-time high
as at um more than
75% and inflation is now close to our 2%
Target so dear colleagues we have gone
certainly through hell and high water
but in many respects we have come out
stronger than 5 years
ago yet the shock waves of these crisis
have taken a toll on Europe’s
competitiveness the business model of
many European Industries was based on
supposedly cheap energy from Russia and
trade with a growing
China today we Face a Rog Russia and a
China struggling with domestic
demand and besides geopolitics there are
other trends that are impacting our
competitiveness in the last
decade Europe’s labor productivity has
risen by only
0.8% per year compared to 1.1% in the
United
States these Trends can only be
addressed with a concerted effort of
both the European and the national level
and therefore restoring our Competitive
Edge must be at the heart of of Europe’s
economic agenda of 2024 and Beyond and I
am absolutely
convinced that with a necessary push we
can set off a new search of European
competitiveness at the European Council
of last week we listened to some very
good ideas of enrio Lea on our single
market and today I want to look at four
of the basic factors that determine
costs prices and productivity in Europe
and let me start with
Finance since we took office almost 5
years ago we have Unleashed an
unprecedented wave of public investment
in strategic sectors take energy and
clean
tech we are investing 400 billion euros
from Next Generation EU and we have
approved over
550 billion euros in national public
support for clean tech and energy
investment this has been
crucial but certainly public investment
is not enough the time has come for a
systemic solution that mobilizes
Europe’s immense private
capital and an essential part of this
solution is to complete the capital
markets
Union 470
billion
euros this is the additional private
investment we could raise every year if
we completed the cap capital markets
Union
470 billion
euros the CMU the capital markets Union
was launched around 10 years ago and
since the start of the Mandate we have
made progress on many of its elements
for instance we have made it easier for
companies across Europe specifically
smmes to get listed on Capital
markets but we have also faced a
deadlock in Council on many crucial
aspects of the capital markets Union so
it is more than welcome that the last
European Council marks a turning point
finally we now have a clear mandate to
move forward on three vital issues the
first is harmonizing National rules on
topics like insolvency
this will give investors the
predictability they need the second is
we will Design and create cross border
savings products for retail investors
and the third is the commission has been
tasked to strengthen supervision at
European level of the most important
Market
players so the way forward is clear we
are to fund the new industrial
Revolutions of our times we must
mobilize Europe’s private capital and
now is the time to turn the political
will into
action the second priority is reducing
the cost of
energy energy costs continue to affect
our competitiveness specifically for
energy intensive
Industries but the International Energy
agency tells us that there might be some
relief in sight you remember very well
that last year during the energy crisis
there were many Investments that have
been done now a large wave of the new
lery export projects is now coming to
the market and therefore we might soon
be moving from a global shortfall of LG
to an abundance of LG and as a result we
expect the gas prices to decrease to
fall and this gives us space to further
develop renewable energy and I think it
is a very telling success that last year
for the very first time the European
Union was able to produce more
electricity from wind than it did from
gas this was a big
success at this time point I want to
thank Parliament for all the work you’ve
done the work for example on the reform
of the electricity Market or the
renewable energy
directive we must keep pushing to
produce more cheap and clean energy in
Europe and we must listen to our
Industries what they need to reach the
climate goals we have done this in
so-called clean transition dialogues
with 10 different sectors of
industry and one of their Central
demands is always energy
infrastructure just take this one in the
decade that is um now so in our decade
now our crossborder electricity
transmission capacity must double so
this needs investments in smart grids in
charging infrastructure but also cables
pipes turbines electrolyzers you just
name it we must build the physical
backbone of the economy of the future in
order to be
competitive the third priority is to
address the labor and skill shortage
that affects our economy and it’s
obvious we have as I said a very low
unemployment so we need to train as many
as possible of our unemployed
specifically have a look at youth
unemployment because as we have a very
low unemployment on average we have a
higher youth unemployment still than the
average every young person has great
potential even if it might be struggling
with different obstacles of all kinds
let’s make sure that they get the chance
they
deserve we also have to increase women’s
access to the labor market parents need
infrastructure it’s very simple
affordable and accessible child care
good schools flexible working hours are
an absolute must and finally we can
affer more flexible solutions for silver
workers to continue their careers and we
need to attract the right talents from
abroad so it’s a whole bundle of
activities that have to be done to
address the skills
shortage we are investing 65 billion
euros in skills they are coming from
Next Generation EU and they’re coming
from the European social fund and skills
must continue to be at the heart of our
action
finally let us never forget that Europe
is is a trading
continent and we derive a significant
share of our prosperity from
trade if it is true that in the next
decade 90% of the most significant
growth is happening in regions outside
the European Union well we should tap
into it our Union is second to none in
negotiating trade
deals we have the largest Network of
trade agreements in the world with a
total of 74
countries the value of EU trade through
these agreements surpassed two trillion
Euros for the first time in
2022 and Beyond exports we need to
secure Imports for example on the
critical raw materials that our industry
needs but honorable
members global trade needs also to be
fair we we need a global Level Playing
Field and we need to address the risks
that come with our
openness we need for example tools to
address issues of
overcapacity that is produced outside
the European
Union I am speaking of structural
overproduction an over production that
is achieved to a large extent by
subsidies massive
subsidies this has to go somewhere where
this over production others are closing
their markets so our Market is an
attractive destination and we have to be
very Vigilant that our producers are not
at risk to be forced out of the
market and we also need to involve
developing economies around the world on
this topic because their
industrialization is also threatened
directly by
overcapacity we need a more structural
response with our partners and we work
on this is starting in the
G7 honorable members The Last 5 Years
have taught us
something time and again we have
surprised the Skeptics and defied the
doomsayers because for a strong Europe
if there’s a will there is a way and our
continent will continue to be the global
Beating Heart of industry and Innovation
thank you and Long Live Europe
[Applause]
Pres
EP Plenary session – Council and Commission statements – Conclusions of the recent European Council meetings, in particular on a new European Competitiveness deal and the EU strategic agenda 2024-2029
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