Prosperity for All: How Social Europe Must Shape Competitiveness 

With Europe’s new right-wing majority, the calls for more competitiveness have unsurprisingly also become louder. The European Commission’s “Competitiveness Compass” contains the vision for overcoming the economic challenges of the next five years, including a sweeping reduction in red tape, tighter public-private collaboration, and strategic investments in cutting-edge technologies. 

It is very hard to get hopeful and enthusiastic by the Commission’s ambitions to simplify, streamline, and accelerate. Instead, we are left with one major question: what place do social rights, equality and sustainability have in these political aspirations? The purpose of increased competitiveness is to win and advance, one assumes, but to what aim? 

While the Competitiveness Compass advocates for ambitious investments in technologies like AI, clean tech, and biotechnologies, it fails to address the social risks and costs of these transitions. The Commission’s proposed Competitiveness Fund may bolster innovation, but it does not contain any safeguards that would guarantee that the benefits and the costs will be equitably distributed. Public services, healthcare, and education must be seen not as secondary concerns but as essential pillars of a competitive, thriving Europe. Investing in these sectors is as critical as boosting industrial output, and it is high time the EU recognized this reality. 

We believe – as outlined in our briefing paper on the Draghi report – that competitiveness cannot be measured solely by economic output or industrial growth. It cannot be an objective in its own right but will only gain value as a means to an end. And meaningful competitiveness lies in Europe’s ability to integrate social justice and sustainability into its economic policies and to do that in collaboration with others. 

The Commission’s call for a regulatory overhaul to boost industry looks and sounds far too much as the familiar right-wing complaints about too many rights and too many considerations. We will not thrive as a continent by sacrificing the very rights that made the EU prosperous in the first place. The dichotomy is false. There is no tradeoff between social rights, sustainability and development. 

The opposite is true. To reach for economic growth, in and of itself, is a dangerous dead-end that will only deepen the ongoing emergencies. Without robust social and environmental safeguards and conditionalities, such a perspective will exacerbate inequality and lay ruin to this Earth. It undermines the very values that Europe claims to still champion — democracy, equality, and solidarity. 

We must instead loudly and clearly remind policy and decision makers that the EU’s social model has and will always be a key competitive advantage for Europe. Ensuring high quality of life, robust social protections, fair economic opportunities, and now, a sustainable pathway forward is the only way forward. Everything else is taking us backwards. And without explicitly incorporating these values into the Commission’s plans, they will be treated with less attention and value.  

We need a vision that harmonizes economic success with social equity—one where innovation, environmental sustainability, and social protection go hand in hand. Only by prioritizing these values will Europe remain competitive, not just globally, but in the hearts and minds of its citizens. 

At SOLIDAR, we call on the EU to:  

  • Clarify that the Competitiveness Compass is a driver to achieve the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights.  
  • Align and increase EU investments with existing social and environmental goals and a reinforced MFF to address the new priorities.  
  • Adopt trade policies that promote sustainable development and mutually beneficial partnerships.   
  • Strengthen educational ambitions beyond labour market needs, for a lifelong learning approach.   
  • Protect our civic space from attacks and misinformation.   

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