European Union leaders said on Thursday it was urgent they find ways to cut energy costs and improve how the bloc’s border-free internal market works so Europe’s businesses can be competitive and survive aggressive economic rivalry from the U.S. and China.
While few concrete decisions are expected from the retreat at a Belgian castle, the gathering will provide clues on whether the EU’s 27 member states can overcome self-interest and agree a joint plan of action.
“We share a sense of urgency that our Europe needs to act,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, standing next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The two – who disagree on many of the possible solutions – arrived together for the EU meeting.
Many of the leaders shared the same sense of urgency, and of frustration at the lack of progress, much of which they are themselves responsible for, in further unifying the bloc’s economies.
EU COUNTRIES NEED TO FIND COMPROMISES
“There’s so much talk and so little action, and this is a chance to at least reverse that trend,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was even more blunt: “Only words, conferences and no action.”
Discussions will span themes including how to deepen the EU’s single market, forge ahead with a union of EU financial markets to allow the bloc to invest at scale and reduce Europe’s high energy costs. Those topics will test the member states’ readiness to compromise on their individual interests.
TACKLE HIGH ENERGY COSTS
“The main issue for European industry right now is energy costs,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said, a day after business leaders said it was vital the EU acts on that since they face power prices that are more than double those in the U.S. and China.
“We are not competitive and we risk losing the petrochemical industry, the steel industry, metals, and of course, this is the base of all prosperity,” De Wever said.
Before the summit, a smaller group of 19 EU members met informally to discuss these challenges. Italy said they had agreed there should be a rapid review of CO2 emissions taxation.
One EU diplomat said the central focus of this discussion was on streamlining regulations, the EU’s single market and diversifying trade, particularly in response to U.S. tariffs.
GERMANY AND FRANCE DISAGREE ON DIRECTION
While all EU countries want a more competitive bloc, they disagree on how to get there, and have done so for years.
Macron renewed his call on Tuesday for the EU to embark on more common borrowing to invest at scale and challenge the hegemony of the dollar. France is also pushing a “Made in Europe” strategy that would set minimum requirements for European content in goods bought with public money.
Germany disagrees with both ideas and says the key is to boost productivity rather than build new debt. It also stresses the need for trade deals, such as with South American bloc Mercosur, which France rejects.
MACRON WANTS JUNE DEADLINE FOR DECISIONS
Macron suggested an EU summit in June should be the deadline to take decisions jointly among all EU countries.
“We need to act fast and we need concrete decisions by June,” he said. “If, in certain areas, we are not advancing as 27 we have the right to opt for reinforced cooperation (among fewer EU members) to go faster.”
Former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, authors of two influential reports in 2024 on the EU’s competitiveness challenge and its single market, have been invited to share their views at Thursday’s meeting.
Draghi has warned that the EU faced “slow agony” if it does not carry out urgent reforms on multiple fronts.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Julia Payne; Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Anna Ringstrom, Ingrid Melander, Bart Meijer, Inti Landauro, Alex Chituc, Jan Strupczewski, Kate Abnett, Giuseppe Fonte; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alex Richardson and Toby Chopra)