Today, Europe stands at a crossroads. The world is being reshaped—and Europe cannot stay on the sidelines. We face the impact of a global crisis, mounting economic and geopolitical challenges, and the struggle for a new world order, shaped by major powers whose stance toward Europe is often uncertain or even hostile. Now more than ever, Europe must assert its independence, protecting its security and taking leadership of technologies that are vital to our strategic interests.

Trade tensions are once again on the rise, with recent EU–US tariff negotiations exposing just how fragile the global order has become. Europe cannot afford to hesitate: it must act as a powerful, sovereign, and competitive player. The Draghi report has issued a stark warning — the competitiveness gap is widening, and delay will only make the costs greater.

In September 2023, the EU Commission published a relief package to promote the competitiveness and resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One piece of the package is the Proposal for a Regulation on combating late payment in commercial transactions, which is intended to replace the existing Late Payment Directive. The BDI sees a need for improvement.

The voting process for a new EU supply chain directive is in the decisive phase. The planned provisions will result in far-reaching obligations for European companies that will significantly jeopardise their global competitiveness. The BDI is addressing its demands to the trialogue partners.

The agreement on the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act sends an important signal to strengthen European sovereignty and resilience in the supply of raw materials - especially against the backdrop of increasing geopolitical risks and global measures to control raw materials trade. The success of the CRM Act will depend on its concrete implementation, although the right framework conditions and important instruments are still lacking.

The EU Commission aims to harmonize the framework for corporate taxation in the EU, cut red tape and reduce tax compliance costs for multinational businesses in the EU. Simplifications are also planned for small and medium-sized enterprises operating cross-border. Corresponding proposals were presented in mid-September 2023.

With the presentation of the Net-Zero Industry Act, the EU is setting the framework to strengthen and accelerate the industrial climate transformation. The EU Commission sees the regulation both as a reaction to the immense challenges posed by the energy transition as well as a response to the US government's Inflation Reduction Act.

Three decades after its entry into force, the European single market remains fragmented. As a result, the EU is missing out on up to 1.1 trillion euros or up to 8.6 percent of additional EU gross domestic product (GDP). In a new demands paper, the BDI discusses ten industrial policy measures to advance the deepening of the single market and unlock its unlocked potential.

“Alongside crisis management, Europe needs a strategic agenda focused on the EU’s competitiveness” demands Charlotte Andersdotter. Since 2021, she has headed the Brussels office of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv). In this interview she talks about Sweden’s EU Council Presidency, expectations of the German government and the impact of the war in Ukraine.

The Commission's new emergency instrument is intended to better protect the internal market from crises such as during the Covid 19 pandemic. To this end, the Commission wants to intervene directly in the production processes of companies in an emergency. Mandatory information requests, reallocation of production capacities, and prioritization of orders are among what is envisaged. For German industry, some of these new powers go too far.

Standards shape key technologies and innovations. With the increasing globalisation of our markets and the strong ambitions of authoritarian states, the world is facing new economic and political challenges. While China is skilfully using the international rules of standardisation, Europe has long been left behind. The European standardisation strategy could now become a real gamechanger. 

A fully integrated single market could bring the EU up to 1.1 trillion euros in additional value added. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU can no longer leave this enormous potential for its 27 national economies untapped. BDI is reiterating its long-standing demand to put the single market back at the centre of national and European policy.

In July, G20 finance ministers have reached an agreement in principle on a global, consensus-based solution to reform the current “World Tax Order” for corporate profits. A clarification of outstanding details is still pending. When it comes to implementation, legal certainty, clear rules and the avoidance of double taxation will be crucial for businesses. The European Commission has put on hold its work on a digital levy for the time being. We call upon the European Commission to finally abandon its controversial plans.

European competition and state aid rules, as well as public procurement rules, play a crucial role in ensuring fair competition conditions in the internal market. However, none of these instruments apply to third-country subsidies that have an impact on the internal market. The European Commission now wants to close this regulatory gap.

The EU is in danger of falling behind in the global economy. International economic organisations expect the EU to grow by just five percent this year, while the USA is projected to grow by seven percent and China by more than eight percent. Amidst the severe economic crisis, the EU’s failure to develop a coherent economic policy agenda now comes back to bite her. This failure must be corrected quickly.

In October 2021, the European Commission plans to table a legislative proposal on due diligence requirements to protect human rights and the environment in the supply chain. The European Parliament and Council welcome these plans. The success of a European supply chain law will strongly depend on its concrete design: The due diligence requirements to be met must be proportionate and feasible for companies to implement in daily practice.

In its work program for 2021, the European Commission announced that it will withdraw its 2017 proposal for a Directive on ex-ante notification of service-related measures. This step is a reaction to the fierce opposition of some Member States to the proposal. For the deepening of the Single Market for services this means another severe setback.

In September 2019, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented her assignments to the designated Commissioners. These show that transparency, better regulation and bureaucracy reduction will remain key priorities of the EU Commission in the next five years.

The EU Commission needs to reform the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). BDI is advocating orientation to relevant orders of magnitude for personnel and financial thresholds as well as the introduction of qualitative criteria. It should also be reviewed whether small-mid caps should be strategically considered.

In fall 2018, the European Commission took stock of its Better Regulation Agenda. BDI contributed to the consultation with a comprehensive position paper. German industry welcomes the progress made in improving European policy making. It is now crucial that the positive developments continue into the next legislative cycle.

In July, the reformed EU Transparency Register came into force. In addition to the European Commission and the European Parliament, the Council now also participates in the register. This was preceded by four difficult years of negotiations. In principle, the industry welcomes a reform that makes the dialogue of interest representation open. However, the reform leads to more bureaucratic burdens for registered organisations without the EU institutions ensuring relevance, clarity and comparability of the publicly provided information.