As the country holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, Hungary has organized successful and impactful summits, Bence Tuzson pointed out on his social media page. The minister of justice mentions as proof the Competitiveness Declaration adopted in Budapest last week, which he believes could bring a turnaround in the competitiveness of the European economy.
As Magyar Nemzet has already reported, economic growth in the European Union has lagged significantly behind that of China and the United States over the past two decades. Productivity growth has been slow and the EU's share of world trade has been shrinking. This unfavorable situation is exacerbated by the significant difference in energy prices: European companies pay three times more for electricity and four times more for natural gas than their US counterparts.
To address this situation, the Budapest Declaration was adopted at an informal meeting of the Council of the European Union. The declaration calls for measures to restore European competitiveness. Its key points are:
- a revolution for simplification
- reducing administrative burdens
- drastically reducing number of reporting obligations by the end of Q2 2025
- introducing measures to mitigate high energy prices
- formulating a real industrial policy
- devoting three percent of European GDP to R&D by 2030
- achieving a Capital Markets Union.
- establishing an industrial base for European defense
- instituting competitiveness tests over the next five years for each new legislative proposal to assess competitiveness impact of any new legislation.
