State of the Union sets out EU policy priorities for the year ahead

As expected, given that the end of the mandate is approaching, the Commission President announced only a few major initiatives.

After the regulatory tsunami of the past four years, the stronger emphasis on competitiveness in the speech is welcome and overdue. The reality is that Europe's industries – so key to delivering the green transition – are facing considerable economic and structural headwinds that need to be urgently addressed. 

"Europe will do whatever it takes to keep its competitive edge," President von der Leyen said, including commitments to:

• Present in October the first legislative proposals towards reducing reporting obligations at the European level by 25%

• Appoint an EU SME envoy reporting directly to the Commission President in order to hear directly from SMEs about the challenges they face

• Hold a series of 'Clean Transition Dialogues' with industry to support every sector in building its business model for the decarbonisation of industry

• Complete deals with Australia, Mexico and Mercosur by the end of this year, and soon thereafter with India and Indonesia.

“It is promising that more and more attention is given to competitiveness, but the reality is that Europe is losing competitiveness towards our major competitors and more needs to be done, both in the short term and in the long term,” said Daniel Wennick, Orgalim’s Policy Director. “We are happy to engage with policymakers to give suggestions for the upcoming legislative period where we believe more attention should be given to implementation rather than coming up with more legislation.”

Orgalim remains fully focused on helping to improve the underlying conditions for Europe's technology industries to deliver a green, resilient and prosperous Europe and we look forward to working with the EU institutions, Member States, civil society and other industry partners on the priorities set out today.