EU competitiveness took centre stage in Copenhagen during European summits, where 28 European corporate giants said they are ready to raise their investments in Europe by 50% by 2030—if the European Union cuts bureaucracy, speeds up permits and delivers reforms to strengthen the single market and the continent’s security.
Copenhagen pledge links investment to reforms
The declaration—handed to the Danish government and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a high‑level meeting attended by France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk—frames new capital spending as conditional on regulatory simplification, streamlined permitting, and a more predictable framework for innovation.
Signatories include the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Thyssenkrupp, and Kongsberg Gruppen, which argue that Europe must move “from reaction to action” to stay competitive with the United States and China. The business message is blunt: without less red tape, promised investment will not materialise.
Draghi’s diagnosis: closing a €750–800bn investment gap
The companies’ stance echoes Mario Draghi’s 2024 competitiveness review, which warned that the EU risks falling further behind unless it boosts productivity and mobilises €750–800 billion in additional annual investment for the green transition, digitalisation and strategic industries.
The pledge asserts that if Europe’s large firms scale up spending in line with the declaration, they could close most of this investment gap, bringing the bloc closer to US and Chinese levels in technology, defence and knowledge.
Permitting delays and energy costs slow the green transition
Corporate leaders point to two structural frictions: slow permitting and high energy prices. Green‑tech startups and research teams report that approvals often take six to seven years in Europe—compared with roughly one to two years in the US, China or India—undercutting time‑to‑market for clean‑technology products.
Heavy industry executives, including from Thyssenkrupp, stress that competitive electricity and hydrogen prices and faster site approvals are prerequisites for reviving European steel and other energy‑intensive sectors.
Security and competitiveness now pull in the same direction
Business groups explicitly link industrial strength with European security and defence. That message landed as EU leaders met informally in Copenhagen to discuss support for Ukraine and long‑term defence planning.
Employers’ associations argue that a larger, faster‑moving industrial base is essential to sustain Europe’s defence production, reduce strategic dependencies and improve resilience to geopolitical shocks.
What to watch: from declarations to delivery
The coming months will test whether lawmakers can translate the Copenhagen pledge into legislative outcomes: tighter single‑market enforcement, faster cross‑border permitting, and incentives that crowd in private capital.
Business groups say they are prepared to act quickly—provided reforms reduce administrative burdens and accelerate approvals. Failure to do so would keep Europe on a slower growth path. Success could unlock a meaningful step‑up in EU competitiveness and investment through 2030.
The declaration highlights Europe’s long‑running dilemma: how to balance the EU’s precautionary approach with the need for speed and scale in the green and digital transitions. For Nordic and wider EU economies, the outcome will shape jobs, innovation and strategic autonomy in the decade ahead.
