Business leaders call on EU to take urgent action to save industry

Key issues include lowering energy and carbon prices

Leading European business leaders at an industrial summit in Antwerp on February 11 called on the EU to take urgent action to preserve the region’s industry.

The appeal came ahead of an informal meeting of bloc leaders in Belgium to discuss plans for Europe’s competitiveness.

According to the statement, small and medium-sized businesses are struggling to survive. Global companies that are allocating capital for the 2030s have to make decisions now and often consider Europe unsuitable for investment. European industrial enterprises and businesses are facing persistently high energy costs and carbon emissions, as well as unfair trade practices. It is also emphasized that the rate of facility closures and job losses in vital sectors is unprecedented.

“The next five years will be the most challenging for European industry in decades,” industrialists say.

Business leaders stressed that although the situation is critical, its outcome is not inevitable. They are asking the EU to turn the Clean Industrial Deal into results “that will be felt by businesses in 2026.”

Industrialists called for decisive action in three key areas of the Antwerp Declaration, namely:

• reducing energy and carbon costs,
• supporting fair global trade and improving access to finance,
• taking the lead in purchasing goods produced in Europe – through public procurement and EU-approved private buyer initiatives, giving consumers the opportunity to choose zero-emission goods manufactured according to the principles of the circular economy.

“European industry is not asking for protection from change – we are asking for the conditions to lead that change,” said a statement signed by hundreds of CEOs from various sectors.

Speaking at an industrial summit in Antwerp, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that speed, scale, power, and new markets are needed to strengthen the business case for Europe.

«Speed – for expansion of production and growth. Scale – to mobilize more investment and attract capital. And power – that is, affordable energy in sufficient quantities. And we need new markets to strengthen our supply chains and reduce risks,» she said.

The EC President, among other things, announced the importance of regulatory cleanup. According to her, the “28th regime” or EU Inc. will be proposed in March. The idea is to create a new European legal form for companies, which will have a single and simple set of European rules that will apply seamlessly across the EU. This will make it much easier for businesses to operate in all member states.

She also said that the central focus of the Industrial Accelerator Act, which will be proposed in February, is the introduction of European clean products in Europe — in particular, specific EU requirements for content for strategic sectors and low-carbon production in public procurement. The proposal will be based on a thorough economic analysis.

As previously reported, the change in EU public procurement rules for low-emission metals is likely to cover at least steel and will be implemented under the Industrial Accelerator Act.