Restoring European Global Competitiveness

The Draghi and Letta reports have, each in their own way, bluntly raised the question of European competitiveness. Specialized in industries whose technological advances are cumulative (the automobile before the advent of the electric vehicle, or pharmaceuticals before biotechnologies), Europe is now faced with the emergence of competitors relying on disruptive technologies. And while European choices on climate action offer the opportunity to make Europe a low-carbon, competitive economy, in the short term they add to the constraints facing the industry. The fragmentation of the global economy and geopolitical tensions require that productivity gains, investment opportunities and quality jobs be put back at the heart of the European agenda. The capacity for innovation that runs through this project presupposes a vast integrated market, which the world market no longer offers, against a backdrop of increasing trade conflict. It also involves making choices, as the amounts of investment required far exceed the low mobilization of European savings towards risky projects. While refining this alarming observation, the round table will ask three questions: what path for the deepening of the European Single Market? Which sectors have strategic autonomy? What is the relationship between competition policy and public aid?