Thank you very much for inviting us here today.
I see many familiar faces with whom we are working very closely together.
Europe has strength, Europe has huge potential, but we have to unleash it. So therefore, as you said we need to move from reaction to action, that is correct, but also moving from words to action is now important.
The Commission has been in office for 9 months now. You know that we have prepared our term by asking Draghi and Letta to prepare their reports. And the diagnosis was absolutely crystal clear, also the urgency behind it. And we all are committed to this diagnosis. We should also say that this is unique. We have never had that before, that all of us say this is the right way to go. Now we have to put it in motion.
Therefore, we have started with – and you are familiar with that – the different sectors or fields of action that are so important. First, competitiveness and decarbonisation. We have started with the Clean Industrial Deal. Simplification. Speeding up of the permitting and many other topics. It is all out there.
We have set up a startup and scale-up fund that is so badly needed for our startups that are innovative and that want to grow here in the European Union. We are proposing for the next long-term budget a competitiveness fund – also at your request – of EUR 400 billion precisely to boost competitiveness and to combine public and private capital.
On innovation: Yes, we have to double down. We have talent in Europe. We know that. But the breakthrough innovation that allows us to take an idea from concept to market, that is where we can get much better. We have proposed to double the budget of Horizon Europe, also one of your asks, and I hope that at the end of the long-term budget discussions, this will be maintained because it is a cornerstone of boosting innovation.
We have two Achilles heels that you have identified, too. One is the structurally costs of energy that are too high. The other one is that for financial services, we do not have a Single Market. It does not exist. It is too fragmented. On energy, it is crucial that we reduce our dependency on the volatility of the global market and that we invest more in homegrown, cheaper energy sources from nuclear to renewable, because this is where we define the price. On the global markets, you know our dependencies can easily be weaponized. Of course, I am aware that gas is still a base load that we will need, but the other energy sources have to be boosted even further. We have the Affordable Energy Action Plan, which is much broader – investment in grids and interconnectors, for example – that is already tabled by the Commission.
On the capital market, as I said, we have basically no Single Market for financial services because it is so fragmented. This is why we launched the Savings and Investment Union. Emmanuel, you said it all, we are world champion in savings, but certainly not world champion in investing the capital here in the European Union. This is the project that we are pushing forward together.
On defence, it is historic what happened in the last month on the European level, of course in close cooperation with NATO. We must have a massive surge in defence investment. This is why we unlocked up to EUR 800 billion of investment until 2030. This is SAFE, the joint procurement, and the national escape clause. And there is an omnibus for defence that is on its way, meaning simplification in the defence sector, which industry is asking for to be able to scale up and to produce faster and cheaper. This omnibus has to arrive. I will come to that in a moment.
Because when we look at simplification, we all agree we need simplification, we need deregulation. We need it on the European level. Actually, we also need it on the national level, where gold plating is concerned. But I hope that with the omnibuses, we are setting a good example so others can also follow.
There is one point that is crucial. We have now six omnibuses on their way. I started the first one in February. None of them has yet arrived at its destination, because the co-legislators also have to do their job, and they have to come to an agreement. Until it is agreed, you have no change. These six omnibuses represent a reduction of EUR 8 billion in bureaucratic burden, but they will only arrive if the co-legislators finally agree. And therefore, next time we have such a meeting, I would like to see the European Parliament here too, because we need them also to move the whole ship forward. Do invite the leaders of the political groups so that they also can sense the urgency. Of course, they can change our proposals. That is democracy. But get the job done. That is the point.
To look forward, indeed, the 28th regime is top of our agenda.
I want to mention one topic that is absolutely crucial, and this is artificial intelligence. We have to embark on that journey. Our companies hold more than half the global market in industrial automation solutions. We have a wealth of data. Lets turn this into real products. So, I need you also there on this topic, but there is a huge potential untapped that Europe can unleash. I have a last point. Simplification in the Single Market, tearing down the barriers. The famous terrible ten.
Dames en heren, vandaag vraagt bijna de hele wereld om vrijhandelsovereenkomsten met ons. En dat is een enorme kans. In de afgelopen 9 maanden hebben we overeenkomsten gesloten met Mexico, met Mercosur, met Zwitserland, en just vorige week met Indonesië, een mijnbouwgigant. In de pijplijn zijn voor dit jaar India, Maleisië en anderen die - bijvoorbeeld de CPTPP-landen die nauw met ons willen samenwerken. Dit is een enorme kans voor ons bedrijfsleven om de wereldmarkt te veroveren. Als u naar Mercosur kijkt, zijn dat 770 miljoen mensen en een kwart van het wereldwijde BBP, dus ook een potentieel om in te tappen.
U zei, beste Jacob, u strekt uw hand uit. Hartelijk dank. Ik weet dit uit ervaring. Laten we uw handen grijpen, stevig vasthouden, het Europees Parlement erbij betrekken en het laten gebeuren.
Hartelijk dank.
