Europe in 2025
The model of decisive, reliable and transparent governance
“The limitations of national approaches in facing global challenges must be recognised.”
The EU can only address the challenges of the future and remain an attractive place to live and work, if it reforms its own governance system. By 2025, the EU’s governance structure and decision-making process must become more efficient, more transparent and more democratic. The limitations of national approaches in facing global challenges need to be recognised, with greater emphasis given to the interests of European society as a whole. A more flexible EU governance approach should allow a better balance between Member States’ powers and the need for a coherent European approach.
The principle of subsidiarity must be applied on a two-way basis, allowing powers to be allocated at the levels at which decisions can be taken most effectively and genuinely in the interest of the citizen: the EU should concentrate on those issues and policies that can be most effectively governed at the level of the Union. To this end, the distribution of powers within the EU should be reviewed – with more powers granted to the EU in areas that can be more effectively addressed at EU level, while more clearly returning some current powers to the Member States in areas where national action is sufficient.
At its heart the EU needs the powers to complete the Single Market, to safeguard the free movement of goods, services, people and knowledge, and to ensure implementation of the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’. It needs the governance structures required to take smart regulatory decisions, to enable it to speak effectively with a single voice in external economic relations and to be represented by a single seat in international economic organisations. Ultimately, effective reform would result not in more powers for the EU but in a more effective and democratic ability to govern in the interests of citizens.
“The EU needs the powers to complete the Single Market.”
The completion and safeguarding of the Single Market must remain amongst the highest priorities of the EU. The accompanying regulatory process must be focused and effective, promoting smart regulation that recognises the importance of global competitiveness and contributes to sustainability, productivity and societal benefit. Intervention must be limited to essential areas of regulation and EU competition policy must ensure that European companies are in a position to compete and expand on a global basis.
Economic policy should be co-ordinated at EU level in a limited number of clearly-defined competencies, with Member States deciding on their individual economic policies in all other areas. This is essential to ensure continued innovation and competition in policy approaches, allowing successful models to spill over from one Member State to another.
“The EU should speak with a single voice.”
The new ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ will be essential to ensure that Europe is an attractive place to live and work in 2025. It should command a strong consensus amongst EU Member State governments, national parliaments, the EU institutions, the European research and education communities, civil society, and the business world. It must clearly favour private ownership of companies, while allowing business to engage with policy makers to identify ways to improve the EU’s regulatory and governance framework. This new ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’ must also assign clear leadership and responsibility for its implementation.
Governance reform is indispensible to achieving the aspirations of this vision. It should result in greater public trust in the EU’s elected representatives and governing institutions and provide the necessary basis for the desired achievement of long-term European prosperity, sustainability and societal well-being.