ING’s Carsten Brzeski and Bert Colijn describe how EU leaders discussed restoring European competitiveness and long‑term growth at an informal summit in Belgium, which took place on February 12. They note that Europe appears to be aligning more with Germany’s focus on deregulation, a stronger single market and energy integration, while France favours Made‑in‑Europe policies and more public investment, highlighting persistent political divisions.

EU competitiveness and integration agenda

"The subject of today’s meeting was once again centred around the question of how to restore European competitiveness and how to ensure stronger growth in the future. Or, in other words, how to ensure that Europe regains a seat at the table, not by referring to past successes or legacy, but simply because Europe matters globally, both economically and politically."

"While Germany put its money on deregulation and simplification, further integration of the single market, and a more European energy market, France pushed for Made-in-Europe policies to protect domestic industries and more public investments, preferably funded by eurobonds. In the past, these kinds of stand-offs have ended with standstills."

"At least judging from the comments by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonia Costa after the meeting, Europe appears to be following the German approach, but without additional fiscal spending."

"What today’s announcements may amount to is a substantial clean‑up effort coupled with a clear attempt to move closer to a genuine, fully functioning single market, even if achieving the latter will require far more than what leaders discussed today. Just think of the harmonisation of taxes, pensions, social security, labour laws, to mention a few."

"Whether this time will be any different remains to be seen. The next milestone comes in a month’s time: the European Summit in March, where today’s broad ideas will already need to be translated into concrete action."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)