Over 60 attendees tuned in for presentations from Maurits Pino, Senior Expert, DG Grow, European Commission; Sander de Bruyn, Programme Leader on Beyond GDP and Wellbeing at the Netherlands Environmental Agency; and Gábor Bartus, Secretary-General of the Hungarian Council for Sustainable Development and co-chair of the Sustainable Development working group. Folmer de Haan, co-chair of the Climate and Energy working group, moderated the session.
The new competitiveness focus of the EU was introduced to prevent the EU from falling behind other global economic powers, notably the United States and China. It is intended to drive innovation and increase the attractiveness of the EU market by simplifying existing and future policies and ensuring policy coherence. To do so, the EU has announced a number of initiatives and plans, such as the Clean Industrial Deal and the Competitiveness Compass. While the EU has repeatedly promised not to change its course towards rapid decarbonisation, the policy implications are unclear. Moreover, the competitiveness concept itself lacks a clear definition at the macro-economic scale. There are thus concerns that focusing on indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will lead to unintended negative consequences.
This webinar explored if and how the concept of broad welfare/prosperity can be integrated within the new policy focus, with engaging presentations from the speakers followed by a lively discussion. Some key takeaways from the session can be found above.