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The competitiveness of the European Union (EU) has become one of the main challenges for the new European Commission. To ensure Europe's competitiveness, prosperity, and global role as a long-term geopolitical player, efforts must be made to bridge the gaps in growth, productivity, investment, and innovation between the EU and its main competitors.
In their respective reports, Enrico Letta and then Mario Draghi warned of the challenges Europe faces in competing with the United States and China. Faced with the risk of the EU falling behind, the weaknesses identified are notably the fragmentation of the European market, which prevents it from achieving economies of scale compared to China or the United States, but also the excess of bureaucracy that constrains Europe's capacity for innovation. Finally, the EU is suffering from a digital lack and a lack of investment in research and development, which risks widening the gap with the United States and China.
On the 28 May 2024, during the Franco-German Ministerial Council in Meseberg, France and Germany produced a Franco-German initiative for the competitiveness of the EU. This has largely been integrated into the work program of the new Commission.
Are Germany and France in a position to agree on a common dynamic? Can the two countries, with their respective weight within the EU and despite the domestic policy challenges they face, give a common impact to the EU's economic and industrial policy? How can the current political difficulties and the questioning of the industrial and commercial model, which made Germany the locomotive of the EU, be a hindrance to this dynamic?
Program
Opening remarks
Paul Maurice, Secretary General of the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa), Ifri
Speakers
Garance Pineau, general director of the French Employers' Confederation (Medef), former European advisor to the President of the Republic
Sébastien Jean, professor at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers(CNAM), holder of the Jean-Baptiste Say Chair in Industrial Economics, and associate director of the geoeconomics and geofinance initiative at Ifri
Gregor Waschinski, correspondent in France for the German economic daily Handelsblatt
Chair : Marie Krpata, Research Fellow at the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations, Ifri
This event is open for public and will be held in French on Zoom, as part of the Franco-German Day.
Contact
Catherine NAIKER
Assistant to the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa), Ifri
Speakers
Our team
Paul MAURICE
Secretary General of the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa), Ifri
Sébastien JEAN
Associate Director of Ifri's Geoeconomics and Geofinance initiative
Marie KRPATA
Research Fellow, Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa), Ifri
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