As the global race for technological leadership intensifies, Europe cannot afford to be shy about what it brings to the table as a transatlantic partner: leadership in innovation, sustainability, and security. The goals of the EU to enable business to be both faster and easier are existential policy necessities anticipated in the European Commission’s forthcoming Competitiveness Compass. Goals this important require urgent action.
With the second term of U.S. President Donald Trump underway, a concurrent race is on in Europe to balance the need for renewed transatlantic collaboration while advancing on its own competitiveness agenda. The challenge is not small, nor does it respect the geographical borders of the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship on the planet.
A partnership is preferable to a balancing act when it comes to transatlantic affairs. The U.S. and Europe make up the most integrated economic relationship in the world. Bigger and more successful trading blocs do not exist on the planet. Importantly, technology and innovation lie at the heart of this relationship whose economies account for one third of global trade in goods and services and close to one third of world GDP in terms of purchasing power.
Europe’s strength is its ability to talk about its weaknesses. One weakness it needs to urgently overcome is execution. Carefully calibrated policy plans for growth and competitiveness have been circulating—and 2025 is the year to act. The sooner the policies are executed, the sooner they can be put to work by the sector that already serves as one of the key sections of foundation to the transatlantic relationship that bridges two continents. The world is watching.
With a tight focus on innovation, sustainability, and security, the technology sector will continue to play a pivotal role in strengthening the transatlantic alliance. With over 619 billion euros invested in the EU and over 400,000 jobs created, the world’s most dynamic companies are on standby to help execute on European policy initiatives in a more integrated Single Market – and a more integrated Digital Single Market.
New and often overlapping EU rules on AI, cybersecurity, data governance, cloud, sustainability, platforms and digital markets are complex and, in some cases, unprecedented. Not examples of regulatory efficiency, they have recently started or soon will start applying concurrently and in parallel with existing national and EU regimes, such as the GDPR.
But what gets measured gets done. The best way to make Europe’s Single Market more attractive is to ensure that the Competitive Compass includes provisions to place a premium on legal clarity for the very sector that buttresses the transatlantic relationship. Ambitious targets for regulatory simplification and action to address regulatory inconsistency should be set – and measured – to avoid having digital transition goals turn into failed aspirations.
Actions for 2025:
- Conduct an ambitious assessment of the digital legislation applying to AI, with the aim to identify and map legal overlaps and potential enforcement conflicts. This assessment can be used to provide further compliance guidance to businesses, to promote coordination of different enforcement authorities as well as to inform future EU policymaking.
- Appoint a central coordinator for cybersecurity efforts – even from an existing entity. This role could be complemented by a platform for discussion comprising ENISA, CERT-EU, DG CONNECT, national security agencies and critical infrastructure operators, to align actions between these entities.
- Support AI-driven optimization of low and free carbon-free energy technologies, including renewables and advanced nuclear. By streamlining licensing processes and working with industry to form public-private partnerships, the safe and timely deployment of these energy sources can be accelerated.
If Europe aims to strengthen its position in the global innovation ecosystem to close the technological gap with other players including China, it can do so with the engagement of companies’ relentless drive for innovation.
It’s time to use the recipes shared by Draghi and the Competitiveness Compass. A fitter, nimbler and more competitive Europe relieved of unnecessary regulatory burden makes it a better partner to ensure that the transatlantic alliance’s common values in technology, innovation, and trade lead the way for a prosperous and secure digital future. It’s time to get cooking.
Guido Lobrano is ITI’s Director General for Europe.