{"id":6612,"date":"2026-02-06T00:28:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2026-02-06T00:28:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:28:52","slug":"in-this-busy-month-competitiveness-ukraines-defense-and-buy-european","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/in-this-busy-month-competitiveness-ukraines-defense-and-buy-european\/","title":{"rendered":"In this busy month, competitiveness, Ukraine’s defense and “buy European”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A brainstorming to get to a “road map” on competitiveness<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An informal “retreat” to do with the economy and competitiveness in 2026 what was done on defense in 2025. Ant\u00f3nio Costa, the President of the European Council, has convened heads of state and government on February 12 at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium to outline a “road map” on initiatives aimed at relaunching economic growth. Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, the authors of two reports on the single market and the future of competitiveness, will be present. Friedrich Merz and Giorgia Meloni have sent a joint “non-paper” to request that the priorities be deregulation, the single market, and free trade agreements. Ursula von der Leyen has begun to prepare the ground with a seminar of her Commission on February 4. The day before the “retreat,” on February 11, a major summit with business leaders will also be held in Antwerp. Many announcements are expected. Costa would like to establish a “road map” to complete the initiatives. The main one will concern the proposal for a “twenty-eighth regime” that the Commission will present in March: a set of corporate, tax and labor rules unified at the EU level, operating in parallel to the 27 national legal systems, to simplify life for innovative startups.<\/p>\n

Costa’s “road map” should include the leaders’ commitment to accelerate on several legislative packages already presented or being presented by the Commission: European networks, integration of financial services markets, digital networks, innovation, European research area. The leaders will give Ursula von der Leyen a mandate to work rapidly also on the free trade agreements that her Commission is negotiating: after the successes with India and Mercosur, it is time to conclude with Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. The strongest incentive for EU leaders to act are Donald Trump’s tariffs and China’s economic coercion.<\/p>\n

But the “road map” and the announcements that will follow risk hiding the problems entirely internal to the EU related to the functioning of the single market. Intra-EU trade in goods is declining. Services trade is stagnant. Member states are multiplying obstacles instead of removing them. Engaged elsewhere, the Commission has given up removing the most politically controversial obstacles and has stopped acting as the gendarme with infringement procedures. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the “internal tariffs” resulting from barriers to free movement are equivalent to a 44 percent tariff on manufactured goods and 110 percent on services. Many observers are convinced that, instead of launching new announcements, the Commission should start applying the rules again to make the single market work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fourth anniversary of the aggression against Ukraine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On February 23, the EU Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. On that occasion \u2013 if there are no vetoes \u2013 the twenty-seven member states should approve the twentieth package of sanctions against Moscow. Meanwhile, governments and the European Parliament must finalize the agreement on the 90 billion euro loan promised to Kyiv in 2026 and 2027 to avoid bankruptcy and continue to defend itself. But, even though no one is on the front lines, a growing weariness regarding the war is perceived in EU institutions. The crisis with Donald Trump over Greenland has pushed some leaders to focus on other matters. The EU is also grappling with the difficulties of rearming. While a group of member states is determined to support Ukraine whatever the cost, others hope that Volodymyr Zelensky will agree to give up Donbas, as requested by the Russians in negotiations with Donald Trump. The camp of Vladimir Putin’s supporters in the EU, moreover, has expanded further. No longer just Hungary’s Viktor Orb\u00e1n and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, but also, to some extent, the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babi\u0161.<\/p>\n

The first disbursements of SAFE to finance rearmament<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The date has not yet been set, but the Commission during February should announce the first disbursements of SAFE, the 150 billion lending instrument intended to finance member states’ rearmament plans. On January 15, the Commission approved the first eight plans from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal and Romania. Two weeks later it was the turn of Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Finland. Among the member states that requested SAFE loans, only Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia \u2013 whose leaders oppose military and financial support to Ukraine \u2013 have not had their plans approved. SAFE aims to enable beneficiary countries to strengthen the European defense industrial base and make joint purchases of priority capabilities needed for the defense of the EU and Ukraine. The first disbursements will take the form of a pre-financing of 15 percent of the total amount of the loan requested. On February 11, Defense Ministers will meet in Brussels. It could be a good occasion to hand out the checks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Buy European” on the Commission’s Agenda<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On the Commission’s calendar, the date has been set for February 25. On that day, the College of Commissioners could adopt the proposal to introduce the “buy European” principle throughout the EU. Its name is “Industrial Accelerator Act,” a legislative proposal that aims to boost European industrial competitiveness by accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy and promoting strategic autonomy, supporting investments and demand for clean and sustainable technologies manufactured in the EU. The Commission should have approved it on January 29 under the responsibility of French Vice-President St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9. But President Ursula von der Leyen did not have time to validate a highly politically sensitive initiative. European preference is a priority of Emmanuel Macron, but is opposed by northern countries and Germany. A draft of the proposal provides for “buy European” requirements for public procurement and purchases financed with public subsidies. Thanks to minimum thresholds for European products and severe restrictions on goods from third countries, at least 20 percent of low-emission production should be “Made in Europe” by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brainstorming to get to a “road map” on competitiveness An informal “retreat” to do with the economy and competitiveness in 2026 what was done on defense in 2025. Ant\u00f3nio Costa, the President of the European Council, has convened heads of state and government on February 12 at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium to outline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":18,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6612"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6723,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions\/6723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foglioeuropeo.ilfoglio.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}