Oct24
CEOE proposals for the 2024-2029 European Institucional Cycle
CEOE PROPOSALS
Strengthening, Speeding up, Boosting
CEOE’s proposals for the 2024-2029 European institutional cycle: a public-private commitment to foster EU competitiveness
At CEOE, we are convinced that the 2024-2029 period represents an opportunity for the Union to prioritise competitiveness and economic growth within, thereby strengthening its position in the current international arena to address these challenges.
To contribute to the ongoing collective reflection process,CEOE, in close collaboration with our members, presents this document of proposals addressed to the Spanish candidates to the European Parliament, to the future College of Commissioners, to the Spanish Government and all European decision-makers.
Spanish and European businesses are committed to being part of the solution to the current challenges, propelling the strategic path towards a stronger European Union through public-private collaboration.
These are CEOE’s proposals to contribute to a more united, prosperous, sustainable, strong and secure Europe during the 2024-2029 European institutional cycle:
1) A regulatory framework for competitiveness
2) Completing the Single Market, a central priority
3) An economic and fiscal environment to foster investment
4) Putting competitiveness at the heart of the Green Transition
5) Consolidating the digitalisation of the economy
6) Boosting innovation as the backbone of competitiveness
7) An EU based on strong social dialogue fostering job creation
8) A strengthened foreign policy and an open trade and investment policy
9) A strategic Spain within an agile institutional framework
1. A regulatory framework for competitiveness
- Focusing on the proper implementation of the prolific legislation adopted in the last cycle, ensuring transparency and legal certainty, avoiding gold-plating and aiming to make the 25% reporting burden reduction target a reality.
- Strengthening the role of the European Commission with regard to ensuring compliance with European legislation by launching infringement procedures when needed, making them more agile and transparent, whilst also taking into account the role of market surveillance for the proper functioning of the Single Market.
- Enhancing the quality of impact assessments and transparency in the drafting of delegated acts, as well as ensuring the proper application of the competitiveness check, the SME Test and the one-in-one-out principle.
2. Completing the Single Market, a central priority
- Placing the Single Market at the heart of European integration, taking steps towards removing persistent barriers to the four freedoms and ensuring cross-border transport operations.
- Maximising the potential of public procurement as a means of achieving European objectives and ensuring that public procurement legislation prevents a race to the bottom in prices.
- Protecting the European standardisation model to ensure market-relevant European legislation that is aligned with international standards.
- Fostering complementarity and consistency between the industrial and competition policy and ensuring that the State aid control framework guarantees the efficiency of public support and a level playing field in the EU, and promoting instruments designed with a European perspective
3. An economic and fiscal environment to foster investment
- Firmly committing to completing the Banking Union and advancing in the deepening of the Capital Markets Union, thereby creating a stable and predictable environment and ensuring the correct implementation of the new EU economic governance framework.
- Designing a new Multiannual Financial Framework, including new own resources to enable the necessary investments, and ensuring the efficient implementation of the NextGenerationEU funds.
- In a context of fiscal consolidation, taking advantage of catalytic European instruments and resources to close the investment gap with other regions, and generating incentives across administrations.
4. Putting competitiveness at the heart of the Green Transition
- Developing policies aimed at preserving and strengthening European industry, speeding up industrial permitting and enhancing supply chains resilience by diversifying sources of energy, raw materials and intermediate goods and increasing European capacities.
- Ensuring energy security and supply in the EU, addressing the cost differential between the EU and its main competitors and encouraging investment in clean energy.
- Promoting a new sustainable and multimodal mobility model based on the principle of technology neutrality and improving market conditions for circular material flows.
- Adopting a comprehensive and consistent approach in EUwater policies and ensuring cost-effective biodiversity conservation measures in balance with social and economic interests.
5. Consolidating the digitalisation of the economy
- Consolidating the Digital Single Market to enable European businesses to leverage its full potential and focusing on the implementation of the new regulatory framework in the digital field.
- Optimising the impact of financial resources, both public and private, allocated for the digital transition.
- Ensuring data interoperability and reuse, advocating for the development of data spaces and establishing the EU as the preferred destination for investment and development of AI technology.
- Strengthening cybersecurity capacities across the public and private domains, implementing and developing the legislation adopted in the past legislative term.
6. Boosting innovation as the backbone of competitiveness
- Fostering legislation that promotes technological neutrality and pragmatism and ensuring the application of the innovation principle when drafting new rules.
- Introducing additional incentives for investment in innovative business models that foster sustainable growth and facilitate business participation, especially for SMEs, in European R&D programmes.
- Promoting and facilitating the use of sandboxes and pilot projects.
7. An EU based on strong social dialogue fostering job creation
- Promoting and reinforcing the role of social dialogue at European and national levels as a tool for finding flexible solutions adapted to the reality of labour markets.
- Facilitating labour mobility between Member States by improving the recognition of qualifications and establishing policies for orderly, safe and regular migration to attract talent from third countries.
- Developing career guidance systems to support lifelong learning processes, enhancing training in skills related to the twin transition and increasing the attractiveness of STEM disciplines.
8. A strengthened foreign policy and an open trade and investment policy
- Strengthening EU security across all sectors, including the European defence industry development, and, regarding economic security measures, ensuring a balance between promoting and seeking international partners.
- Ensuring robust EU support for multilateralism as the best approach to address global challenges, accelerating the ratification of already negotiated bilateral trade agreements, pursuing ongoing negotiations and extending the existing network of agreements to new countries.
- Further developing the Global Gateway initiative, ensuring that its financial instruments are more accessible to businesses.
- Fostering trade relations with key partners such as the US, China, Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the EU Neighbourhood countries.
- Looking ahead to future enlargement, in addition to providing assistance to candidate countries, ensuring the necessary EU governance reforms while strengthening and preparing the Single Market.
9. A strategic Spain within an agile institutional framework
- Elevating the challenges and strengths of the Spanish economy to the forefront of the European agenda, combining this with the necessary institutional space, and maintaining a strong position for Spain in negotiations at the Council.
- Ensuring that the structure of the upcoming European Commission responds to current challenges, by promoting competitiveness and the Single Market matters.
- Enhancing collaboration among Spanish political decision-makers, social partners and business representatives at the European level, reinforcing the defence of the country’s collective interests.