Industrial competitiveness is the ability of companies to compete in domestic and global markets.
The EU helps countries to support the development of businesses.

Competitiveness in the EU

For EU countries the focus is on ensuring that they:

• benefit from simplified public administration and more broadly, a business-friendly environment;
• gain proper access to markets, both internally and internationally;
• benefit from good infrastructure;
• have sufficient access to resources, including finance, raw materials, energy and suitably skilled labour.

On the other side, European businesses must:

• be at the forefront of research and innovative practices;
• produce goods in a sustainable manner;
• undertake a sufficient level of investment

These goals are achieved through a combination of EU, national and sector policies. The European Commission also monitors the policies of the EU Member States and interacts with EU countries on competitiveness issues through, amongst others, the Competitiveness Council.


What the Commission is doing?

To support and promote industrial competitiveness, the Commission:

• recognises the importance of competitiveness for the EU economy and aims to enhance it;
• monitors competitiveness in the EU and EU countries;
• analyses the impact of policy proposals on competitiveness;
• aims to improve the quality of public administration as it is an important driver of Europe’s competitiveness;