Metsola, EU must learn to harness resources and boost competitiveness

Brussels – Unity, simplification, and investment: Three keywords regarding competitiveness that President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola emphasized in her speech today (November 8) at the informal meeting of the European Council in Budapest. 

The EU must be ready to change. It must know how to plan for the long term, using the resources it already has, but also act in a timely and unified manner.  “We do not need to be talking in terms of “whatever it takes”—we already have what it takes.

We just need to make better use of the market and talent that is already there and find the political will to do what is needed,” Metsola says. 

The most profound and consequential transformation of international balances is putting a strain on the EU and its global role, but ”
We cannot allow ourselves to be squeezed,” the EU Parliament President says. She does not leave out the concern about the results of the American elections, on which Metsola is very clear: “Our mindset is not America elects and Europe reacts, but Europe acts.” No inaction is allowed, especially when the EU must also react to the climate crisis and take action to support its states through “flexibility measures for financial assistance” and quick actions. 

It is about building a Europe capable of asserting its autonomy.
And by independence I do not mean isolationism,” affirms Metsola. The response to common challenges must be “in sync with each other,” she continued, especially in the area of competitiveness.

The paradigm that emerges is common challenges, common responses, better outcomes. The EU is being asked to be malleable to change, focusing on transitions already underway, such as the digital one with artificial intelligence or the green one with decarbonization. “We need to intensify our efforts by expanding our network of trade agreements,” Metsola continued, referring, for example, to those related to raw materials.

 Investment is lacking, for which “the European Union spends one-third less on research and development than other major economies in the OECD “, the EU Parliament’s President says. Considering the Draghi and Letta reports, the EU Parliament’s President asks a question, “Why aren’t companies growing in Europe?

Because our markets are still too fragmented.” 

There are many regulatory barriers and economic difficulties for businesses and start-ups, about which Metsola calls for “bold steps,” such as the full development of the Savings and Investment Union to complete the single capital market. 

Finally, Metsola stresses the need for simplification, particularly to help SMEs. “The goal of the next mandate must be better, smarter regulation, focusing on implementation,” says the Europarliamentary chairwoman, to facilitate and account for business demands based on need. On this element, the European Commission also supported the idea that it was necessary to make changes to help the European economy. “This is a positive first step and the European Parliament is eager to build on it,” Metsola concluded. 

Many are MEPs’ (and the entire EU) responsibilities to their citizens, who voted in last June’s elections asking their institutions not to “sit back and accept things as they are.” The needs of Europeans are perfectly represented by the words of the president of the institution that directly represents them and to which, inevitably, people’s hopes for impactful economic changes are addressed. 

Ultimately, says Metsola, “Prosperity is at the foundation

of a stable global order.” And Europe, if it wants to maintain its role in the international chessboard, must once again invigorate its economy and focus on competitiveness.