Headlines: Tripartite Social Summit, newly published Reform Barometer 2025

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Headlines

20 March 2025

Tripartite Social Summit: Europe can only be as strong as its economy

On 19 March, a BusinessEurope delegation joined fellow social partners and EU leaders at the Tripartite Social Summit—alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, President of the European Council António Costa and Polish Minister for EU Affairs Adam Szłapka — to discuss how to restore Europe’s competitiveness and its position as an attractive, investment-friendly location.

Our President Fredrik Persson said: “In this highly uncertain global environment, strengthening the economic backbone of the European Union is more urgent than ever. There can be no resilient and strong Europe without resilient and strong competitive business and industry. In all my contacts with companies across Europe, I hear the same message: the European Commission’s recent proposals are steps in the right direction, but they remain insufficient to close the energy cost gap with our main competitors and to bring the regulatory overburden to a digestible level.”

He also presented our freshly published Reform Barometer 2025, which shows that overregulation, high energy prices and labour shortages continue to be the three main factors holding Europe back. Furthermore, an overwhelming 85% of our members underline that the current deregulation agenda in the US will further divert investment away from Europe if concrete signals are not given that the EU is walking the talk on prioritising competitiveness. Read our full publication to learn more.

EU Omnibus proposal: First step, what's next for business?

On 17 March, we gathered EU policymakers and company representatives to discuss this critical question at our joint event with MEP Axel Voss, moderated by Jennifer Baker. In his opening remarks, our Director General, Markus J. Beyrer, highlighted a key challenge: 86% of EU companies employ staff solely for regulatory compliance, costing them 1.8% of their turnover. He warned that “Europe will not achieve its goals without competitive businesses”. In his keynote speech, MEP Axel Voss stressed the need for greater ambition in response to global competition: “The European business community should not be hesitant to push for more,” he urged, emphasising that we need to go beyond the current proposals from the Commission and Parliament. See pictures of the event here.

Reform Barometer 2025: High regulatory burden continues to deter investment

How is Europe performing on global competitiveness? Our latest Reform Barometer analyses key indicators like public finances, the business environment and the labour market. Watch our Chief Economist Lúcio Vinhas de Souza present the main findings.