The European Commission (EC) has unveiled a breakthrough strategy, ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’. By addressing a host of long-standing policy bottlenecks, the new roadmap is expected to provide a crucial lever for enhancing the European Union’s (EU) competitiveness.
In its newly released communiqué, the EC emphasised that start-ups and scaling enterprises are vital to the EU’s development trajectory. However, the current business environment across the bloc has yet to create the optimal conditions for these "promising seeds" to take root, grow tall, and bear fruit.
Research shows that the EU captures only 5% of global venture capital investment, far behind the US (52%) and China (40%). Moreover, regulatory discrepancies among member states remain a major obstacle to cross-border expansion, pushing many companies to seek capital and growth opportunities outside the Union.
In this context, removing such barriers and fostering a supportive business climate has become more imperative than ever. This urgency spurred the EC to launch the ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’ strategy, designed to support enterprises throughout their entire growth cycle, from inception to scale-up.
A wide range of initiatives will be rolled out in parallel to address existing challenges across five key areas: regulation, finance, market access, infrastructure, and human capital. Plans include simplifying labour and tax regulations to ease cross-border expansion, cutting red tape, unlocking new financial resources, and improving access to public procurement. Other measures, such as easing visa and residency requirements, are also expected to help attract top global talent to Europe.
EU Commissioner Startups, Research and Innovation at European Commission, Ekaterina Zaharieva, underscored that the strategy aims to dismantle barriers along the entrepreneurial journey, positioning the EU as a prime destination for launching and growing businesses. This move is in line with the bloc’s broader goals: its 2025 agenda, published in February, identifies enhancing competitiveness as a strategic priority for all 27 member states.
Analysts view the newly announced strategy as a timely response to the EU’s urgent need to regain ground in the global competitiveness race. Despite boasting some of the world’s most advanced economies, a high-quality workforce, and a market of 450 million people, the EU has been falling behind in the global development race.
Over the past two decades, the EU’s share of global GDP has halved. Former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, and several EU leaders have repeatedly warned that without bold action, the bloc risks lagging behind its global peers, particularly in digital technology, artificial intelligence, and venture capital.
The ‘Choose Europe to Start and Scale’ strategy marks a pivotal moment in the EU’s efforts to attract talent and entrepreneurs, positioning Europe as a launchpad for innovation and growth. Experts agree that the success of this initiative will be critical to the bloc’s ability to foster innovation and boost competitiveness. This is no easy feat amid an increasingly fierce global race for talent. Whether the EU will reach its goals remains to be seen. Still, with its latest decisive moves, the EU appears poised to accelerate and catch up with the world’s leading powers.
NDO
