Europe’s Competitiveness Compass points in the wrong direction

[WARSAW] We live in tempestuous times. Russia is fighting a war of aggression in Ukraine, the US and China are locked in an escalating trade dispute, and European industry has fallen behind in the technology race. Donald Trump’s return to the White House could derail climate action (with his orders to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement and “unleash” oil and gas drilling), escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (with his proposal to “clean out” Gaza), and embolden Russia and Europe’s far right.

Despite all this, the election of a new European Parliament and the appointment of a new European Commission last year, with their plans for a Clean Industrial Deal (now public) and a European Competitiveness Fund, provided cause for optimism. On Jan 29, the Commission took the first step towards achieving these ambitious goals by presenting its “Competitiveness Compass” – a set of specific proposals for the next four years.

The reliance on old-fashioned imagery was telling. A compass, one of the tools that helped Christopher Columbus on his 1492 voyage across the Atlantic, hardly seems useful in this age of satellite navigation. More to the point, the most effective instrument for navigating the current geopolitical storm is arguably common sense – and that seems in short supply.