Euro Group Calls For Enhancing Competitiveness

11/4/2024 7:11:37 PM

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Nov 4 (KUNA) -- EU Finance and Economy Ministers of the Euro Group called on Monday for making the European economy more competitive by enhancing its resilience, stimulating growth and innovation and maintaining high living standards across Europe.
In a joint statement, the ministers noted significant changes in the geopolitical landscape, including fragmentation of global trade flows, rapid technological advancements, climate change, and the energy crisis "are converging to create a highly complex and dynamic global environment."
They also pointed out that the fallout from the Russian-Ukrainian war has added further challenges, as the European economy particularly hit by the resulting shockwaves that have dampened growth, increased inflation, tightened financial conditions and worsened supply bottlenecks amid recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statement highlighted ongoing challenges in Europe including low growth, stagnant productivity, weak innovation performance, and demographic challenges. The ministers emphasized the urgent need to address the declining performance of the European economy by increasing its productive capacity and enhancing its competitiveness through ambitious investments and well-calibrated structural reforms.
They called for stimulating investment in research and development, particularly through a market-based approach to facilitate private sector spending by improving investment framework conditions, structural reform and better coordination of public funding including at the EU level.
The ministers also said that it would be essential to deploy sustainable energy solutions and reduce carbon emissions as a well-planned green transition and energy security in the euro zone are not only complementary requirements but can also provide significant opportunities for the European economy to achieve its competitiveness and decarbonization objectives by leveraging inexpensive sustainable energy and reducing reliance on external sources.
They noted that this requires strengthening the resilience of the euro zone's economy and adopting a strategic approach to ensure that the EU remains competitive in global markets while upholding fair trade practices.
They agreed to enhance and diversify international partnerships, maintain secure and resilient supply chains, and proactively identify risks associated with dependencies in strategic sectors as essential measures to safeguard European economic security amid an increasingly complex global environment and to mitigate the risks of external shocks and associated job losses. (End)
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