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(noun) a strong desire to be more successful than others; the quality of being as good as or better than others
Since 2000, Europe’s economic slowdown “has been seen as an inconvenience but not a calamity”, wrote Mario Draghi in a report on EU competitiveness released in September. No longer. The former European Central Bank president’s 393-page argument that the situation was indeed calamitous provided the clarion call for change.
As Ursula von der Leyen begins another five years at the helm of the European Commission, boosting competitiveness is the thread that runs through her key policy proposals. It’s the buzzword on every Eurocrat’s lips as they nervously consider the bloc’s uncertain future in a world of trade wars and tussles for the domination of artificial intelligence and green energy.
There are myriad metrics by which to measure Europe’s stagnation. Per capita disposable incomes have grown almost twice as much in the US as the EU since 2000. Only four of the world’s top 50 tech companies are European. Levels of investment lag behind the US.
Draghi offers solutions: ramp up investment by an eye-watering €800bn a year; remove barriers preventing European telecoms or defence companies from competing globally; and force the creation of a single European capital market.
Von der Leyen knows that despite claiming to run the world’s largest single market, the national fragmentation that bedevils the EU also makes many of the more obvious cures politically difficult.
A raft of industrial policy proposals written by her commission will land on the desks of EU leaders this spring. All will contain long-mooted ideas that have been rebuffed before, but with a renewed plea for change in the name of competitiveness.
“Do this, or it’s a slow agony,” warned Draghi. Europe’s economic future may well depend on whether the currently bleak outlook convinces the bloc’s capitals that rapid collective remedies are not just sensible, but imperative.
