by Philip Blenkinsop and Kate Abnett

Brussels (Reuters) – The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday a strategy aimed at reverse the industrial decline of the European Union (EU) and to intensify efforts to make the competitive block against the United States and China in areas such as Artificial intelligence, as well as to reduce energy costs and bureaucracy.

This initiative is revealed while several members of the block, including France, put pressure for the EU to simplify the regulations of the business sector and soften its legislation on the recently adopted climate, especially since it now faces new challenges With the new administration of President Donald Trump.

The “compass for competitiveness” presents the legislative measures and initiatives that the European executive intends to take over the next two years in historical sectors such as steel and automobile, as well as in new technologies, in particular biotechnologies and quantum computer science.

“If Europe accepts a managed and progressive economic decline, it condemns a slow agony,” warns the document, echoing the recommendations of the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, whose report On the competitiveness of the EU, published last year, is one of the foundations of the initiative.

Among the series of planned measures, Brussels will present its “Pact for its own industry on February 26, a multi -year plan aimed at helping industries with high energy consumption to decarbonize and stimulate the production of clean technologies, accompanied by ‘Ideas aimed at stimulating affordable energy supply.

The same day, the European executive will also unveil plans to reduce the requirements of business in terms of information, by emphasizing the relationships of large companies on sustainable development, the duty of vigilance of companies and the system Defining what investments can be described as climate respectful.

The Commission specifies that this is the first of a series of simplification measures aimed at reducing the requirements of companies in terms of reports and at least 35% for small businesses, which will allow Reduce costs by 37.5 billion euros over five years.

More coordination and integration

The roadmap presented on Wednesday also includes a proposal to introduce a European preference for public procurement, as well as a measure to coordinate national energy infrastructure policies, such as electrical networks and storage.

The EU executive could also play a similar coordination role in the investment and implementation of digital infrastructure and the use of artificial intelligence, as well as in the manufacture of essential drugs.

Other measures include a special legal regime for innovative companies so that they can better benefit from the single market and access to financing, the joint purchase by the EU of essential raw materials and the creation of a European single market integrated for the defense industry.

Brussels is confronted with an increasingly uncertain commercial environment, US President Donald Trump being committed to reducing the rules applicable to American companies and having threatened to impose new customs duties on EU exports to UNITED STATES.

Last week France proposed to delay “Sine Die” a new EU directive on the duty of vigilance of companies (CS3D) and to delay by two years the directive on the durability of businesses (CSRD).

The Commission also plans to start a “strategic dialogue ‘with the European automotive industry on Thursday, which is very unhappy with the CO2 emission reduction targets for 2025 and possible fines in the event of non-compliance.

“We will identify immediate solutions to preserve the investment capacity of the industry, by examining the flexibilities possible to ensure that our industry remains competitive, without reducing the overall ambition of the 2025 objectives”, says the document of the Commission.

(Philip Blenkinsop report; Diana Mandia; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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