The European Commission Competitiveness Compass. WIFO Research Brief about Roadmap for Europe

Atanas Pekanov

31.01.2025

The European Commission Competitiveness Compass

WIFO Research Brief about Roadmap for Europe

A recent WIFO Research Brief by Atanas Pekanov and Gabriel Felbermayr summarises and analyses the most important points of the European Commission's "Competitiveness Compass".

The European Commission presented its Competitiveness Compass – its "rescue plan" to address the EU's lagging economic performance, innovation and productivity in the coming years.

The initiative promises to coordinate industrial policy, decrease business regulation and boost investment. It focuses on closing the innovation gap to the USA; on addressing the static industrial structure and increasing the low private sector research and innovation spending. It seeks to close comparative disadvantages from high administrative and regulatory burden and high energy prices, while preserving the course to carbon neutrality. It also wants to accelerate the access to EU funds and repurpose them to sectors of strategic importance for Europe.