BRUSSELS — Airbus, Siemens, Novo Nordisk and other industry heavyweights are preparing a pledge to invest billions in Europe if the European Union follows through on plans to slash red tape and ease industrial hurdles.
An industry declaration, of which POLITICO obtained a draft, showed more than two dozen of the bloc’s largest companies are planning to promise large-scale investments to help close the €800 billion investment gap that Europe has with other world regions — a gap that was central to Mario Draghi’s 2024 analysis of Europe’s lag on global competition.
But first, the EU institutions should deliver on “ambitious reforms that foster innovation, investments, technological infrastructure, a clean and just transition, and security,” the companies will say.
“This investment increase will only be realized in full if policy unlocks addressed by this declaration are implemented,” the draft declaration read.
The declaration will be presented to European leaders as they gather in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Signatories are expected to include Airbus, Siemens, ASML, Novo Nordisk, thyssenkrupp, SAP, Equinor, Schneider Electric, Thales and Vodafone, and more than a dozen other large industrial firms.
Exactly how much investment the companies are committing is still listed as “[xx]” in the draft declaration. “If all large European companies match this level of investment increase, Europe would be on track to close most of the ~€800 billion annual investment gap outlined by Draghi,” the text said.
The list of “policy unlocks” they are demanding ranges from cutting red tape and offering more incentives for private investment to speeding up the clean-energy transition, strengthening Europe’s defense industrial base, and reducing reliance on foreign technology.
The declaration is set to be endorsed at a Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit hosted by trade association Danish Industry. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk are scheduled to attend.
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