In comparison to other major industrialised nations, the EU has experienced a significant loss of competitiveness. The primary factors contributing to this decline are high energy costs, geopolitical uncertainties, increasing global competition, and bureaucratic hurdles. Furthermore, an inadequate tax framework is impeding economic growth and deterring investment. The new mandate presents a crucial opportunity for the EU to initiate a course correction.

The President of the European Commission (EC) has named her line-up for the new Commission. Trade issues will likely be placed in the hands of a Commissioner with strong experience of European affairs – with his approval by the European Parliament still pending. His task will not be easy. Due to changing global political circumstances, the EU is facing structural challenges that put long-standing policies and concepts to the test and require new ways of thinking.

Several important events for transatlantic relations were on the agenda for the fourth quarter of 2023: the EU-US summit in Washington in October 2023 and the fifth meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which was originally planned for early December. However, difficult negotiations on steel and aluminium as well as differing priorities on the TTC are currently hampering progress.

The EU has launched ambitious initiatives to foster prosperity and sustainable growth with partners across the globe. However, multiple other players pursue similar ambitions. This increases competition, but also opens a window of opportunity for Europe to stand out as a partner on eye-level. Mutually beneficial partnerships may prove to be the unique European strategy to navigate the difficult geoeconomic environment and to enable the transition to climate-neutral value-creation. How can Europe bring this initiative to fruition, and which benefits loom at the horizon for Europe and its partners? Teddy Soobramanien, CEO, COMESA Business Council, Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State…

Europe needs to recalibrate itself to secure its position in a world in transition. Leadership in advanced technology and a successful transformation to climate-neutrality are key both to European sovereignty and to sustainable prosperity. It is time to shift from crisis mode to a strategic approach to Europe’s future. How can the European partners team up and bring their entrepreneurial potential to geoeconomic fruition? Laurence Boone, Französische Staatssekretärin für Europa, Christian Sewing, CEO, Deutsche Bank, Peter Carlsson, CEO, Northvolt, and Timotheus Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom talked about this at #TDI23 - Day of the Industry.

The energy crisis raised awareness that Europe has it all at its disposal: renewable energy resources, trustworthy partnerships for reliable infrastructure, and the technologies to create competitive goods for the world. Industrial and political players are busy turning this insight into sustainable value-creation. How can the European partners unfold the momentum – and scale up the business with climate action? Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Trade and Industry in Norway, Toralf Haag, CEO, Voith Group, Nils Aldag, CEO, Sunfire and Anne-Laure de Chammard, Group Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Board, Siemens Energy talked about this at #TDI23 – Day of Industry.

In these uncertain times, a smoothly functioning World Trade Organization (WTO) would be a key instrument to ensure free and fair world trade. But at present, the WTO is rather characterized by stalemate and diverging interests of the member countries. Until the Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi at the end of February 2024, the organization must address some urgent ongoing issues.

The European Union recently published a new agenda for the EU's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean in June. BDI and LADW welcome this initiative. The new geopolitical reality has a major impact on international economic relations. The wish to diversify markets is great and Latin America has much to offer. The EU shares this view and proposes the following priorities in its cooperation.

With the trilogue negotiations that started in June, the voting process on a new EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) is entering the decisive phase. For European companies, the planned regulations will result in far-reaching obligations that significantly endanger their global competitiveness.

Michael Clauß has been Germany's Permanent Representative to the EU in Brussels since 2018. In his interview with BDI, he gives an insight into his work, explains what distinguishes the Permanent Representation in Brussels from other representations and what challenges he sees facing German industry.

The turning point in Europe is also and especially a turning point for European spaceflight. What has so far been little realized politically and in the media has serious consequences: Europe is currently in danger of losing its independent access to space – at least temporarily.

The European Union Commission presented several important initiatives to strengthen defence and security in the EU in February 2022 with the Contribution to European Defence (Defence Package II). In light of the war in Ukraine and other threats to the continent, the measures are long overdue.

Supply-side bottlenecks and disruptions in global supply chains are currently one of the biggest macroeconomic challenges. The German industry is severely affected due to its high degree of global interconnectedness. In 2021, bottleneck-induced value-added losses in the industrial sector were estimated to exceed 50 billion euros. Similar effects are expected in 2022.

The Italian B20 presidency of 2021 concentrated on “including, sharing and acting” to recover from the pandemic, to reduce fossil fuel emissions and to create a level playing field in several policy areas. The B20 summit offered the presidency the chance to directly introduce these recommendations to the Italian government.

An international agreement for a fundamental reform of the global tax system for business profits is expected by mid-2021. It is therefore even less understandable that the European Commission is currently envisaging to put forward a proposal for a digital levy. The recent US proposals clearly demonstrate that it would be important to pursue all efforts to reach an international agreement instead of taking unilateral action.

The European Union should renounce the donor-recipient relationship with the African continent and instead cooperate at eye level. These are the demands in a report which was adopted by a majority of the European Parliament at the end of March 2021. Plans for a „strategic partnership“ between the EU and the African Union (AU), originally to be completed by 2020, were stalled last year by the Corona-crisis.

China was the first country to escape the vortex of the COVID pandemic. Beijing reported positive economic figures again in the second quarter. The Chinese economy could even close the year with growth of around two percent. German and European companies in the country are also gaining new hope. However, cooperation between the EU and the world's second largest economy is increasingly complicated by growing conflicts of interest and political factors.

The EU started negotiations for a trade agreement with Mercosur two decades ago. The German industry would welcome a quick ratification of this forward-looking agreement. Europe could conclude one of the first free trade agreements (FTA) with the South American economic region – and thus seize new business opportunities and secure advantages over other competitors.