Economic competitiveness, EU monetary support programmes for companies/sectors, EU regulation and economic theory
24.1.2025
Question for written answer E-000323/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Rada Laykova (ESN)
The initial semesters of economics courses already provide considerable insight into why constant subsidies undermine the competitiveness of any business or sector in the medium and long run. In addition, a large set of regulatory requirements, especially if they are subject to constant changes and there is no end in sight, also undermine the competitive strength of companies or whole sectors for obvious reasons: encumbrance and uncertainty. The past approach has been to offset this with more financial aid programmes with fancy names, creating even more dependence on state and/or EU subsidies. This, of course, increases the power of the EU and makes companies dependent on the influx of EU money, further exacerbating the aforementioned competition aspect in relation to monetary aid. The Draghi report and constant plenary discussions and Commission letters have highlighted the severe problems surrounding the EU’s economic competitiveness.
- 1.For what economic (not legal) reason has the Commission decided on this approach of mixing strong regulation and ever-increasing financial aid, even though it strongly contradicts basic economic theory with regard to competitiveness?
- 2.In the case of some of the proposals contained in the Draghi report, would the Commission deviate from its approach and regard less regulatory or financial interference by the EU as beneficial for competitiveness?
Submitted: 24.1.2025