European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has told EU leaders that Europe should now take decisions to boost its competitiveness.
Speaking to at the Informal EU Leaders' Retreat, Metsola set out four priorities, starting with completing the EU Single Market, which allows goods, services, capital and people to move more freely across member states, the parliamentary press service reported on Thursday.
Fragmentation was leaving Europe “squeezed from our East and our West”, she said, calling for action “now.”
She also urged further reductions in regulatory burdens, saying the European Parliament had “done a lot in the last year on simplification”.
Metsola cited eased requirements in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, reduced red tape in parts of the Common Agricultural Policy and InvestEU, and a narrowing of the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
Energy investment and trade deals
The EP president declared that Europe needed to reinforce public and private funding, “especially in energy”, arguing that the EU had savings but was not turning them into investment.
She called for urgent investment in electricity grids and generation capacity to build an “Energy Union” that guarantees stable supply at affordable prices.
Her fourth point was pursuing a free trade agenda with partners worldwide, including India.
Strategic autonomy “is not about isolation - it is about influence”, she said, adding that while Europe should buy European where possible, it should not sacrifice industries that rely on external resources.
Metsola also said the Parliament had cleared agricultural safeguards linked to the EU’s planned trade agreement with Mercosur — a South American bloc including Brazil and Argentina — and that work was continuing on an EU - US trade agreement, with a committee vote planned for the 24th and a plenary vote in March.
