“Don’t ask what the US can do for you, ask what Europe should do for itself,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, November 8. European heads of state and government met in Budapest two days after Donald Trump’s victory in the United States. They wanted to take action to show that they were not just subject to the vagaries of the political life of their main partner.
To take action is what the 27 member states have promised to do after endorsing the “Budapest Declaration” on the “new European competitiveness pact.” But from declarations of intent to action, much remains to be done. “What Europe can no longer do is postpone decisions,” said Mario Draghi, who had traveled to Budapest to discuss his alarmist report on the EU’s competitiveness with European leaders.
On September 9, the former president of the European Central Bank warned that, unless it makes radical changes, the EU, which is falling behind the US and China in economic terms, is headed for a “slow agony.” “The urgency is even greater” since America chose to reelect Donald Trump to the White House, he insisted on Friday.
The 27 member states at least agree on one thing: The need for administrative and regulatory simplification. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a reduction in bureaucracy. “The Chinese innovate faster than we do, the US invests more than we do. And the Europeans regulate more than anyone else,” a European diplomat said.
‘Replacing Russian natural gas’
Against this backdrop, at the beginning of 2025, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will propose a law to lighten the accountability obligations of some 1,000 European laws. The CSRD directive, which strengthens corporate obligations to publish social and environmental data, the duty of vigilance directive and the taxonomy regulation are just a few examples.
While the conservatives of the European People’s Party (EPP) are Europe’s leading political force, and the populist right is on the rise everywhere, this attempt at simplification could also have the effect of unraveling some of the EU’s social advances, as well as part of the Green Deal. The latter could also suffer from the “clean industry” bill, due to be presented shortly by the Commission, which is intended to accompany the decarbonization of industry while preserving its competitiveness.
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The issue of energy prices, which are much higher in Europe than in the US, will be at the heart of Von der Leyen’s deliberations. The Commission chief suggests “replacing the Russian natural gas” that the EU still imports “with American natural gas,” which is cheaper. She is sending a message to Trump, who intends to overtax European imports to reduce the US trade deficit.
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Publish date : 2024-11-09 05:35:00
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