The EU is facing increasing competition, especially from the USA and China. To ensure that the EU is not left behind, what is needed above all is money, says EU Council President Charles Michel.
A special report discussed at the summit gave new impetus to state aid for the economy that had previously been strictly regulated in Europe. There are 33 trillion euros in private savings in the EU - mostly in cash and deposits. Every year, around 300 billion euros in savings of European citizens are diverted abroad - primarily to the USA, he writes in his report. The development of cross-border investment and savings products is to be accelerated. They agreed to press ahead with work to harmonize important aspects of the national rules for corporate insolvency. The member states were also able to make progress on two previously controversial points: They agreed that the European Court of Justice should have the power to impose sanctions on countries that fail to comply with EU rules, and they agreed that European courts should be able to enforce EU rules.