EU’s best way to close its US growth gap: growth

Investor AB

26/10/2023 10:22

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are their own.)
       BRUSSELS, Oct 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The European
Union would have a better chance of catching the U.S. if it
aimed for growth, instead of rearranging the regulatory deck
chairs. Lowering political barriers in the 27-country single
market could boost investment without breaking the bank on
subsidies, Jean-François van Boxmeer told Breakingviews, citing
a new European Round Table for Industry report. The Vodafone
 VOD.L  chair said policymakers should turn their shepherding
instincts toward goals like expanding the electricity grid,
speeding up merger decisions and linking EU capital markets
instead of trying to guarantee a “fantastic outcome only by
regulating”.   
    Business leaders would say that, even as the EU has made
great strides promoting sustainable finance and keeping rich
member states from elbowing out poorer peers via unmatchable
floods of state aid. But setting limits also has downsides. In
the telecommunications sector, the European Commission has kept
four providers in most of the EU’s markets, and screens out
Chinese equipment-makers over security concerns. Better to shift
to three providers in big markets and two in small ones, letting
companies use cross-border savings to build out 5G networks and
spur industrial modernisation, van Boxmeer and Investor AB
 INVEb.ST  Chair Jacob Wallenberg said. 
    The European Commission reckons completing the single market
by 2030 would hike EU GDP by 12%, or 713 billion euros. That’s a
big enough prize to justify a new approach. (By Rebecca
Christie)
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The EU economy has fallen further behind the US    https://tmsnrt.rs/497579q
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 (Editing by George Hay and Streisand Neto)
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