BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 21. The European Commission to present its new Competitiveness Compass next week, said President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen with her special address during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trend reports.
She pointed out that the cooperative world order we imagined 25 years ago has not turned into reality. Instead, we have entered a new era of harsh geostrategic competition.
“The world's major economies are vying for access to raw materials, new technologies, and global trade routes. From AI to clean tech, from quantum to space, from the Arctic to the South China Sea, the race is on. As this competition intensifies, we will likely continue to see frequent use of economic tools such as sanctions, export controls, and tariffs that are intended to safeguard economic and national security.
But it is important that we balance the imperative to safeguard our security against our opportunity to innovate and enhance our prosperity. In this spirit, we will need to work together to avoid a global race to the bottom, because it is in no one's interest to break the bonds of the global economy. Rather, we need to modernize the rules to sustain our ability to produce mutual gain for our citizens,” said the Commission’s president.
She went on to add that for Europeans, the race begins at home.
“Europe has a unique social market economy. We have the second largest economy and the biggest trading sector in the world. We have longer life expectancy, higher social and environmental standards, and lower inequalities than all our global competitors. Europe is home to immense talent, along with a proven ability to attract ideas and investment from across the world. Our capacity to invent and create is underappreciated. Europe's global share of patent applications is on par with the U.S. and China. But the world is changing. So must we,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
She recalled that for the last 25 years, Europe has relied on the rising tide of global trade to drive its growth.
“It has relied on cheap energy from Russia. And Europe has too often outsourced its own security. But those days are gone. To sustain our growth in the next quarter of a century, Europe must shift gears. And this is why I asked Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, to deliver a report on European competitiveness. And on that basis, next week the European Commission is presenting our roadmap, the Competitiveness Compass, which will drive our work for the next five years. The focus will be increased productivity by closing the innovation gap,” she said.
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