Kutse

Friends of Industry 2026
Joint statement on strengthening the competitiveness of European industry by the Ministers of Industry of Germany, xxx, yyy
In the Berlin Declaration, we underlined the need for a strong industry for a strong Europe. This is becoming even more important and urgent in the current geopolitical situation. To provide a stimulus for growth, innovation and competitiveness, we need to improve the business environment. We note with growing concern that, despite the commitment to simplify and ease the regulatory burden, numerous additional legislative instruments are being prepared or have already been proposed by the European Commission. Instead of this, in order to truly support European industry, a mindset of legislative and regulatory self-restraint needs to be put into practice. We therefore re-emphasise that co-legislators should internalise a true spirit of self-restraint in all legislative activities, starting when the Commission exercises its right of initiative, throughout the negotiation process, and subsequently in the establishment of delegated and implementing acts. New legislation should be limited to those cases where it is absolutely necessary.
Companies need planning security for investment and space in which to innovate. To foster investment in Europe, we need a clear legislative framework, with simpler rules for the industrial sector. Regulatory aspects in the industrial sector should be addressed in a single legislative instrument. The fact that many topics are addressed concurrently in different existing and upcoming legislative instruments entails many challenges for economic actors, and also for public administrations and implementing bodies (e.g. there are more than 80 sectoral legal instruments that contain rules on public procurement; currently, the environmental Omnibus, the IAA and the NZIA all aim at accelerating permitting in the industrial sector, with different rules for different sectors). We have reached a point where even the legislators seem unable to grasp all the different rules in the various legislative instruments. The consequence is a high level of bureaucracy for companies and authorities which have to monitor compliance with all these rules, some of which are actually contradictory. Additionally, there is the risk of unnecessary delays of approvals as sectoral legislative acts often involve separate, additional documentation requirements. European industry needs the opposite: true acceleration of approval procedures through substantive simplification.
We call for:
• “legislative self-restraint” as a proactive approach from outset of every legislative proposal,
• true substantive simplification within existing legislation, e.g. by means of Omnibuses, and also in necessary new legislation, which should be designed in a simple and unbureaucratic way,
• reduction of the number of sector-specific case-by-case regulations, to be replaced by horizontal solutions or the consolidation of decentralised sectoral provisions into easy to navigate central legislative acts, for example in the area of public procurement,
• strengthening of legislative discontinuity, whereby unfinished legislative proposals at the first reading stage between the co-legislators, where no agreement is in sight, are not automatically carried over in the next legislative period.
To achieve our common goal of a stronger, more resilient and more competitive Europe, we will need to create a policy environment in which both digitalisation and decarbonisation of industry can become a realistic and successful business case along the entire industrial value chain. Therefore, measures should reflect more the needs of and the current competitive situation facing industry. For example, industrial artificial intelligence (AI) can be a strong European asset, especially since European industry owns its data and is already aiming to utilise it to strengthen its competitiveness. Therefore, we need a coherent framework for the digital transformation of industry. The development of interoperable and trusted data ecosystems in Europe is a key to the shared use of high-quality and sensitive data across companies, e.g. for innovative services and AI applications. If this does not happen, innovative business models will not be realised in Europe due to the high level of government intervention and regulation.
Decarbonisation of the industry can be a successful business case, as long as the regulatory framework reflects the international competition that European companies face. Thus, climate targets should be achieved as efficiently as possible. In this spirit, the upcoming ETS reform should not hinder the competitiveness of European industry, but rather support it. Given the necessary decline in the EU-wide emissions cap, industrial actors could face the risk of extreme price levels, increased market volatility and limited liquidity, in particular if insufficient enabling conditions for decarbonisation are in place. The reform should therefore ensure technology neutrality, market stability, and effective carbon leakage protection to safeguard the European industrial base.
We call for:
• A clear distinction between industrial AI and AI in the public sphere and AI for private use, e.g. the Machinery Directive, not the AI Act, should set out the rules for AI-driven machines,
• Realistic implementing deadlines for AI in industry in the AI Act that give companies enough time to implement the rules based on the guidelines and standards which are delayed, as overshooting requirements for innovative companies will drive them out of the EU,
• An ETS reform that enables the EU to be competitive, including for example a pragmatic solution for free allocation, greater flexibility elements, inclusion of international credits and the recognition of negative emissions.