The new competitiveness focus of the EU was introduced to prevent the EU from falling behind other global economic powers, notably the United States and China. It is intended to drive innovation and increase the attractiveness of the EU market by simplifying existing and future policies and ensuring policy coherence. To do so, the EU has announced a number of initiatives and plans, such as the Clean Industrial Deal and the Competitiveness Compass. While the EU has repeatedly promised not to change its course towards rapid decarbonisation, the policy implications are unclear. Moreover, the competitiveness concept itself lacks a clear definition at the macro-economic scale. There are thus concerns that focusing on indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will lead to unintended negative consequences.
This webinar explored if and how the concept of broad welfare/prosperity can be integrated with the new policy focus. It was moderated by Folmer de Haan, member of the Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure and co-chair of the Energy and Climate working group at the EEAC Network. The keynotes were delivered by Maurits Pino, Senior Expert at the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG Grow) of the European Commission; Gábor Bartus, Secretary-General of the Hungarian Council for Sustainable Development and co-chair of the Sustainable Development working group; and Sander de Bruyn, Programme Leader on Beyond GDP and Wellbeing at the Netherlands Environmental Agency.
The key takeaways from the webinar were:
GDP and labour output provide a misleading picture of Europe's economic health
Broad welfare should be part of the competitiveness discussion
The EU's environmental policies may improve competitiveness in the long term