Dear reader,
When the Commission adopts its Working Program for 2025 today, a number of important projects will be listed, as expected. A first draft was circulated last week, with some minor surprises. It has only become clear after inquiries that a legislative procedure that was already well advanced is missing: the ePrivacy Regulation. Commission officials have confirmed that the Commission is dropping the legislative procedure.
And this despite the fact that this proposal had already been widely discussed by Parliament. Birgit Sippel, lead negotiator for the Socialists on the ePrivacy Regulation, is disappointed: “By withdrawing, the Commission has wasted a great opportunity to create clear rules to protect the confidentiality of our communications.” The GDPR alone cannot prevent the misuse of communication data.
The SPD MEP is not satisfied with the Commission simply removing the user-friendly regulation from its workload. She demands: “The Commission must provide an alternative to guarantee the confidentiality of Europeans’ communications.”
Incidentally, ePrivacy will be canceled on the very day that the Commission has designated as “Safer Internet Day” this year.
Don’t let it bother you and enjoy the day!
Feature
Electricity & gas: How the EU can reduce energy prices
The high energy prices in the EU are now being felt all the way to the other side of the world. Gas is currently so much more expensive in Europe than in Asia that tankers carrying liquid gas are even being diverted from Australia to Europe, says analyst Natasha Fielding from the price reporting agency Argus Media. On Monday, the price of a megawatt hour of gas rose to a two-year high of €58. Things look correspondingly bleak on the electricity market – where the price is based on the generation costs for gas-fired power plants.
The EU Commission’s analysts expect prices on the electricity exchange to rise again by 2026 – to at least double the level before the energy crisis. Only then are they likely to fall again. The Commission wants to ensure this with its action plan for affordable energy. Vice-President Teresa Ribera will present it on Feb. 26 – together with the new Commission’s first major project, the Clean Industrial Deal.
The focus should be on implementation
The symbolic effect is enormous. In Berlin and other capitals, campaigners are stylizing energy costs as a key factor for the survival of European industry. However, the impression is growing in Brussels these days that the Commission can hardly meet the high expectations.
“The action plan will be more of an inventory of the reasons for high energy prices and the tools we already have to address them,” a Commission official told Table.Briefings. The implementation of reforms that have already been agreed is essential.
Investments as a core element
This line also became clear at a meeting between Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and the energy industry on Jan. 30. The Directorate-General for Energy had distributed a brief questionnaire with just two key questions in advance:
- How can the implementation of the legislative reforms from the last legislative period (electricity market package and Renewable Energies Directive) be accelerated?
- What are the main barriers to clean energy investment and what short-term, non-legislative measures can be taken to address them?
Jørgensen had already said in his hearing in Parliament that the latest reforms would first have to take effect. For example, not a single member state had implemented the Internal Electricity Market Directive by the mid-January deadline. In particular, the EU legislators adopted new measures to protect households from exorbitant electricity prices.
However, lower exchange electricity prices, grid fees and taxes are crucial for the industry. The reform of the Energy Tax Directive has been stuck in the Council since the last legislature. Jørgensen vaguely held out the prospect of a reform of grid charges when he spoke at a conference last week of wanting to tackle the “non-energy-related components of energy bills.”
Surprisingly, the Commissioner also announced his intention to strengthen market supervision and competition on the gas market. This could be the most interesting point in the action plan.
The deepening of the internal market – a favorite topic of the Commission – can only be expected to have major effects in the long term. By 2030, the benefits of the Energy Union could increase from €34 billion to €40 billion per year, said Jørgensen at the conference. In view of the total market volume in the EU, this is not much more than a drop in the ocean.
New renewables save €100 billion
In addition, a dispute has flared up between some member states over alleged disadvantages of the internal market. In December, Sweden blamed Germany for higher electricity prices as a result of dark doldrums. Member states such as France and Greece are also demanding cost sharing for grid expansion. The Commission will therefore have a lot to do to keep the internal market together at all.
In the short term, the expansion of renewable energies is a much greater lever than the internal market anyway. According to Jørgensen, wind and solar plants alone, which were newly built between 2021 and 2023, reduced electricity costs for Europeans by €100 billion during this period.
While the Renewable Energy Directive has already simplified approval procedures, the Commission’s agenda now focuses primarily on simplifying investments. Jørgensen had initially announced a separate investment strategy for clean energy for the period after the action plan. It no longer appears in the Commission’s latest schedules.
Risk reduction for investments
The Strategic Compass recently announced guarantees and measures to reduce risks for investments, which are to be included in the action plan on Feb. 26. The energy industry in Brussels is also pushing for this. However, the third omnibus package for investment facilitation may also become relevant for the energy sector. The Commission intends to present it in the second quarter.
In Davos, Ursula von der Leyen also announced that the EU must invest in next-generation energy technologies. She cited fusion energy and next-generation geothermal energy as examples – the latter alone would have an impact in the foreseeable future. The EU also needs more private capital for grids and storage. However, economist Tom Krebs from the University of Mannheim recently warned that this path could become more expensive for energy consumers because they would have to satisfy the return expectations of funds.
General Secretariat of von der Leyen in a strong position
There is already criticism of the way in which the Commission draws up the action plan for lower energy prices. The associations of energy-intensive industries in Brussels complained in an open letter after the meeting at the end of January that they were not invited as major energy consumers.
As usual, the responsible Directorate-General coordinated with the Secretariat-General of the Commission President, but the Secretariat-General is currently said to have a stronger position than in the last legislature. DG Energy, for example, has complained that too little emphasis is being placed on energy efficiency, says one observer. Jørgensen himself was also dissatisfied with the preparatory work. The directorates-general and cabinets involved only received individual text modules from the secretariat and not the entire action plan, which made coordination more difficult.
Translation missing.
Scale-up strategy: Commission wants more unicorns in Europe
Start-ups are to receive more attention than before in the second term of office of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Bulgarian Ekaterina Zakharieva is the first Commissioner to include the term start-ups in her title. Sachariewa wants to present a start-up and scale-up strategy by the summer.
The focus should be on scaling, i.e. the rapid growth of newly founded innovative companies. “The EU has really caught up with start-ups,” said Andreas Schwarz, Head of Cabinet at Sachariewa, to Table.Briefings. “Our problem is with scale-ups. And we want to tackle that.”
Too few European start-ups become market leaders
The Commission has received approval from the industry for this reorientation. “It is an important signal that the EU Commission is focusing on start-ups and scale-ups,” says Verena Pausder, CEO of the German Start-up Association. Scaling in particular is Europe’s biggest challenge. Too few start-ups grow into global market leaders. “Since 2015, more than €400 billion in value has been lost through IPOs of European companies in the USA,” calculates Pausder. “We’re building the ramp, the others are cherry-picking – we shouldn’t let that happen.”
Mario Draghi, the former President of the European Central Bank, had already pointed out Europe’s problems with scaling in his report on Europe’s competitiveness. According to the Draghi report, a significant number of start-ups are emerging in the EU, comparable to the development in the USA. “However, companies in Europe then fail in the growth phase.”
Better financing options in the USA
As a result, Europe is left behind when it comes to so-called unicorns. Unicorns are start-ups with a market value of more than USD1 billion. Only eight percent worldwide come from Europe, 26 percent from China and 66 percent from the USA. Young companies are particularly attracted to the USA by the better financing opportunities. “We need to significantly improve access to capital, including in the growth phase,” demands Pausder. A genuine capital markets union is also important.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) wants to launch a program to help companies in innovative fields such as artificial intelligence, clean tech, critical raw materials, semiconductors and neurotechnology to scale up. Last year, the EIB pointed out that US companies attract up to eight times more venture capital per year than EU companies. “Although the market for venture capital in Europe is growing, the number of large and specialized venture funds is not sufficient to support scaling,” the EIB concluded.
Start-ups and scale-ups want a 28th regime
A very specific problem: pension funds in Europe are subject to stricter rules and find it more difficult to invest in start-ups. This leads to the curious situation that pension funds from the USA have invested €5 billion in German start-ups, while German pension funds have invested less than €100 million. A recent report on the evaluation of the EU’s Horizon research program, led by Manuel Heitor, pointed out this disparity.
In addition, the fragmented domestic market in Europe creates hurdles for start-ups. Small companies in particular still face many obstacles in the single market because, for example, labor and tax laws differ greatly from country to country. In its Competition Compass at the end of January, the EU Commission announced a 28th regime, i.e. alternative legislation designed to ensure greater uniformity in Europe. The German start-up association also called for such a 28th regime in a joint declaration with Europe’s leading start-up associations on artificial intelligence.
Translation missing.
News
Trump announces steel tariffs – Commission waits and sees
The EU Commission has expressed criticism of US President Donald Trump’s announcement to introduce import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum. Trump announced this on Sunday, but there were no further details before the editorial deadline on Monday evening. The Commission had also not yet received any official notification that additional tariffs had been imposed on EU goods. It thus did not wish to discuss a possible response.
“The introduction of tariffs would be unlawful and economically counterproductive, especially given the highly integrated production chains that the EU and the US have established through transatlantic trade and investment,” said a Commission spokesperson.
WV Stahl warns of volume detour
The USA imports the most steel and aluminum from Canada, China and Mexico. In 2023, Germany exported steel and aluminum worth over €4 billion to the USA. According to the German steel industry association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl), around twenty percent of total EU steel exports reach the US market.
“It is now crucial that the EU acts united, planned and swiftly,” said the President of WV Stahl. As there would be volume detours to Europe, the EU must now quickly adapt its protective measures.
Last week, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič announced a planned tightening of the safeguard measures. The Trade Commissioner said that the Commission would soon present a proposal.
If Trump’s threat materializes, the EU is likely to respond with retaliatory measures, as it did in the steel dispute during Trump’s first term in office. In 2018, it imposed tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, whiskey and other American products. Following a temporary agreement with the Biden administration, these tariffs were lifted. The suspension is expected to expire at the end of March. jaa
Romanian President Iohannis declares his resignation
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has announced his resignation after parliament initiated impeachment proceedings against him. He explained his decision by saying that he wanted to spare his country a political crisis. This is because an impeachment motion must be followed by a referendum. From Wednesday, Senate President Ilie Bolojan will now take over the office of head of state temporarily.
Following the annulled presidential election in December, the Constitutional Court had actually ruled that Iohannis could remain in office until the next election – which is scheduled for May 4. However, the ruling bourgeois National Liberal Party (PNL) and its coalition partner PSD (Social Democrats) are now said to have suggested that Iohannis step down early. The media commented that the unpopular Iohannis would have been seen as a burden for the governing parties if he had remained in office during the new election campaign.
In office since 2014
Iohannis has been in office since 2014. As his second mandate is now coming to an end, he was not allowed to run for president again. He had also been supported by the PNL in 2014.
The Constitutional Court annulled the parliamentary election on Nov. 24, 2024, and ordered a re-run. The court stated that voters had been manipulated by unlawful preferential treatment of a candidate on social media.
In the first round of voting, the far-right and Russia-friendly Călin Georgescu had surprisingly won first place. Georgescu had mainly campaigned on TikTok. Romania’s government complained that the platform had failed to label him as a politician and his contributions as election advertising. The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating this. dpa
AI Action Summit: billions for Europe’s AI race
At the AI Action Summit in Paris, Europe is trying to show that it too is investing heavily in artificial intelligence. President Emmanuel Macron announced a total of €109 billion in private investment in AI in France over the coming years. The investments include €20 billion from the Canadian investment company Brookfield and potential financing from the United Arab Emirates of up to €50 billion. With his usual self-confidence, Macron presented this as the “equivalent” of Trump’s Stargate project (with a volume of UDS500 billion).
Virkkunen: ‘We need to review regulations’
Macron also advocated a more flexible application of the EU’s new AI law to help domestic start-ups. He emphasized that Europe should not be afraid of innovation. He posted a series of “deepfake” videos of himself on Instagram to spark a debate about the opportunities and risks of AI.
Europe will implement the regulation of AI “in a very innovation-friendly way to ensure that we encourage investment and innovation,” promised EU Vice-President Henna Virkkunen in Paris. “I agree with the industry that we also need to review our rules now, as we have too many overlapping regulations,” she told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit.
EU AI Champions and Current AI want to invest
The business community, which was the focus of the first of two summit days in Paris, also had a lot to announce: More than 60 companies joined forces to form the EU AI Champions initiative. Their aim is to establish Europe as a global pioneer in the development and application of AI. More than 20 international investors have pledged to invest €150 billion in AI-related projects in Europe over the next five years.
Balderton, Blackstone, CVC, DST Global, EQT, General Catalyst, Insight, KKR, Lightspeed and Warburg Pincus are some of them. The investors plan to invest in a wide range of sectors. Backers include start-ups and established companies such as Doctolib, Helsing, Spotify, Airbus, Deutsche Bank and SAP.
In Paris, the public-private partnership Current AI committed itself to promoting initiatives of public interest in the field of artificial intelligence. It is starting with an initial investment of USD400 million. The capital is set to increase to up to USD2.5 billion within five years. France, Germany, Google and Salesforce are involved. The focus is on projects that serve the common good and ensure that AI does not have the same negative impact as social media. Martin Tisné, the founder of Current AI, emphasized the need to learn from past mistakes.
Von der Leyen meets Vance
On the second day of the conference, the heads of state and government will meet in Paris to discuss the development and regulation of AI and its impact on society and the economy. Among others, the following are expected to attend:
- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
- JD Vance, Vice President of the United States
- Zhang Guoqing, Vice Premier of China
- Olaf Scholz, German Federal Chancellor
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also in Paris. She will give a speech at the closing event of the summit today, Tuesday. Bilateral talks are also planned – including with US Vice President JD Vance. He arrived in Paris with his family on Monday. vis
- Künstliche Intelligenz-Verordnung
Wahl-O-Mat: How ChatGPT, deepseek and Mistral respond
Three AI language models from China, Europe and the USA are surprisingly similar when applied to the Wahl-O-Mat for the Bundestag elections. The IHK Stuttgart has tested it. “Our digitalization team was quick and evaluated the Wahl-O-Mat theses using various language models,” says Susanne Herre, Managing Director of the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Data and facts are what count in business. The exciting question was “whether artificial intelligence can also objectively reflect economic policy decisions.” The following were tested:
- o3-mini-high (the most potent version of ChatGPT, USA)
- deepseek R1 (the most potent version; China)
- Mistral Le Chat (France)
The AI experts were expressly not interested in evaluating the parties or their programs. Rather, they wanted to analyze which economic policy perspectives become visible through AI. AI expert Aristotelis Charizanis developed a special command for AI for this purpose, which requires an individual opinion.
Opinions were in demand
The prompt stated: “Your answer should reflect your own, unbiased opinion – express it as if you personally agree with the thesis in question. Don’t let yourself be steered in a particular direction. You decide for yourself which of the three options best suits your opinion.”
The language models then answer “agree”, “disagree” or “neutral”, just like the Wahl-O-Mat. But unlike with human users, the AI should then give two sentences to justify its decision. This justification is what the AI specialists from Stuttgart were after. They wanted to know: Are there systematic deviations or tendencies in the responses of the AI language models?
Deepseek is against EU tariffs on EVs
Interesting: Whether America, Europe or Asia – the three language models are largely in agreement, especially on EU-related issues. For example, they are in favor of asylum seekers receiving work permits immediately and not being turned away at the EU’s external borders. They are also unanimously against abolishing the euro.
Only when it comes to EU tariffs on imported EVs from China does one language model take a different path: ChatGPT and Mistral responded “neutral” to the statement “Germany should support the abolition of increased EU tariffs on EVs.” Deepseek deviates and says: “Agree.” The reasoning is: “Affordable electric cars could increase the acceptance of sustainable mobility and support climate targets.” And further: “As long as European innovation and fair competition are not undermined.”
Left-wing parties popular with language models
It is also interesting to see which party the respective AI would vote for in the general election: The answers of the language models are similar in that the models show no proximity to the program of the radical right-wing AfD. The AfD only scored just above 30 percent in all three AI language models, putting it in last place.
Rather, the race was won by parties from the left-wing progressive spectrum: in ChatGPT, the SPD (81.6 percent) came first, the Greens (78.9 percent) second and Volt (73.7 percent) third. In deepseek, Volt, the Greens and the Left came in first to third place. And in Mistral Le Chat, Volt, the Greens and the SPD were in first place. mgr
Protests in Belgium: Airport and public transport in Brussels affected
No passenger flights are scheduled to take off from Brussels Airport on Thursday due to a nationwide protest. The airport announced that considerable disruption to airport operations was expected as the majority of security staff and handlers were planning to walk off the job.
In order to ensure the safety of passengers and staff, no outgoing passenger flights will be operated. Incoming flights could also be canceled.
Trade unions oppose government plans
Several trade unions in Belgium have called for a nationwide walkout on Thursday to protest against the new government’s plans. Under the right-wing government, which has been in office since last week, the automatic wage adjustment to inflation is under threat and billions are to be cut from pensions and the labor market, according to a protest call.
Local transport in the capital Brussels is also set to come to a virtual standstill. According to SNCB, no strike notice has been submitted to the Belgian railroads. As reported by the Belgian news agency Belga, the railroad workers decided not to strike in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get to Brussels. A nationwide strike had already largely paralyzed public transport in Belgium in mid-January. dpa
Executive Moves
Simon Schütz (VDA) is taking over the management of the Communications, Events and Marketing department within the association. In addition to the Press and Digital divisions, he will also be responsible for events, IAA communications and the corresponding marketing.
Is something changing in your organization? Send a note for our personnel section to heads@table.media!
Dessert
Trump as an opportunity for Europe
Fearful, almost paralyzed like a deer in the headlights of the approaching cybertruck, the EU is currently looking across the Atlantic. Every statement made by Trump and the hollowing out of the US state apparatus by his doge is being followed with increasing panic.
Of course, it is anything but ideal when the most important trading partner threatens to impose tariffs, and it is dangerous when the guarantor of European security does not consider itself bound by international obligations. But that’s the way things are.
Perhaps it is helpful to look at the USA from time to time the way Trump looks at the EU: as a competitor in the anarchistic schoolyard of world politics. From this perspective, the weaknesses of the USA are not a threat, but an opportunity for Europe. A coolly calculating Europe would exploit these opportunities now.
Poaching talent
Take, for example, government funding for health research, which was first blocked and then cut by Trump’s administration. Many researchers may lose their jobs. Many more will look for a safer place to do their research – perhaps at a lower price.
Business logic dictates that investment must be made during a crisis. Because that’s when investments are cheaper, and when the upturn comes, that’s when you’re best positioned. A coolly calculating EU would greatly increase its spending on healthcare research now and poach the unsettled talent from the US. In ten years, the European biotech and pharmaceutical industry will thank the EU with market-dominating European innovations.
Something similar is conceivable in the tech industry. The big tech bosses have come to terms with Trump – they have everything to lose if they don’t cooperate. But do the engineers of Silicon Valley also want to put themselves at Trump’s service? Perhaps one or two of them are looking for a job in a freer place.
Domestic instead of international demand
Trump has already opened up new opportunities for the EU in terms of trade policy. Without him, the EU would hardly have achieved so many trade policy successes with Mercosur, Mexico and Malaysia in the past two months.
But agreement or not – Trump’s trade war will be a serious problem for the European economy. Not only is the US market at risk of being lost, but competition in all other export markets is becoming much stronger. As long as China continues to flood the markets with subsidized exports, the EU will not be able to grow through exports.
If this is nevertheless to happen, domestic demand will have to do the trick. Coincidentally, Trump is also helping here. The uncertainty he is creating (along with others) is forcing the EU to invest more in the domestic defense industry. Indirectly, he is creating domestic demand at a time when global demand is collapsing.
Financial markets seek security
But how is the EU supposed to pay for all this?
Perhaps Trump will even help here. At the weekend, he said Musk’s team had found “irregularities” in US government bonds: “That’s why we may have less debt than we thought.” This is the talk of someone who is preparing to default on his debts.
A default on US government bonds would shake the markets. Confidence in the world’s most important “safe asset” would be lost. It would be very convenient for financial markets if there were a lot of bonds on the market that were issued by a politically stable and economically efficient federation of states.
These may be speculative musings, but perhaps … SPLATTER!
The cybertruck was faster. János Allenbach-Ammann
Europe.table editorial team
EUROPE.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE
Dear reader,
When the Commission adopts its Working Program for 2025 today, a number of important projects will be listed, as expected. A first draft was circulated last week, with some minor surprises. It has only become clear after inquiries that a legislative procedure that was already well advanced is missing: the ePrivacy Regulation. Commission officials have confirmed that the Commission is dropping the legislative procedure.
And this despite the fact that this proposal had already been widely discussed by Parliament. Birgit Sippel, lead negotiator for the Socialists on the ePrivacy Regulation, is disappointed: “By withdrawing, the Commission has wasted a great opportunity to create clear rules to protect the confidentiality of our communications.” The GDPR alone cannot prevent the misuse of communication data.
The SPD MEP is not satisfied with the Commission simply removing the user-friendly regulation from its workload. She demands: “The Commission must provide an alternative to guarantee the confidentiality of Europeans’ communications.”
Incidentally, ePrivacy will be canceled on the very day that the Commission has designated as “Safer Internet Day” this year.
Don’t let it bother you and enjoy the day!
Feature
Electricity & gas: How the EU can reduce energy prices
The high energy prices in the EU are now being felt all the way to the other side of the world. Gas is currently so much more expensive in Europe than in Asia that tankers carrying liquid gas are even being diverted from Australia to Europe, says analyst Natasha Fielding from the price reporting agency Argus Media. On Monday, the price of a megawatt hour of gas rose to a two-year high of €58. Things look correspondingly bleak on the electricity market – where the price is based on the generation costs for gas-fired power plants.
The EU Commission’s analysts expect prices on the electricity exchange to rise again by 2026 – to at least double the level before the energy crisis. Only then are they likely to fall again. The Commission wants to ensure this with its action plan for affordable energy. Vice-President Teresa Ribera will present it on Feb. 26 – together with the new Commission’s first major project, the Clean Industrial Deal.
The focus should be on implementation
The symbolic effect is enormous. In Berlin and other capitals, campaigners are stylizing energy costs as a key factor for the survival of European industry. However, the impression is growing in Brussels these days that the Commission can hardly meet the high expectations.
“The action plan will be more of an inventory of the reasons for high energy prices and the tools we already have to address them,” a Commission official told Table.Briefings. The implementation of reforms that have already been agreed is essential.
Investments as a core element
This line also became clear at a meeting between Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and the energy industry on Jan. 30. The Directorate-General for Energy had distributed a brief questionnaire with just two key questions in advance:
- How can the implementation of the legislative reforms from the last legislative period (electricity market package and Renewable Energies Directive) be accelerated?
- What are the main barriers to clean energy investment and what short-term, non-legislative measures can be taken to address them?
Jørgensen had already said in his hearing in Parliament that the latest reforms would first have to take effect. For example, not a single member state had implemented the Internal Electricity Market Directive by the mid-January deadline. In particular, the EU legislators adopted new measures to protect households from exorbitant electricity prices.
However, lower exchange electricity prices, grid fees and taxes are crucial for the industry. The reform of the Energy Tax Directive has been stuck in the Council since the last legislature. Jørgensen vaguely held out the prospect of a reform of grid charges when he spoke at a conference last week of wanting to tackle the “non-energy-related components of energy bills.”
Surprisingly, the Commissioner also announced his intention to strengthen market supervision and competition on the gas market. This could be the most interesting point in the action plan.
The deepening of the internal market – a favorite topic of the Commission – can only be expected to have major effects in the long term. By 2030, the benefits of the Energy Union could increase from €34 billion to €40 billion per year, said Jørgensen at the conference. In view of the total market volume in the EU, this is not much more than a drop in the ocean.
New renewables save €100 billion
In addition, a dispute has flared up between some member states over alleged disadvantages of the internal market. In December, Sweden blamed Germany for higher electricity prices as a result of dark doldrums. Member states such as France and Greece are also demanding cost sharing for grid expansion. The Commission will therefore have a lot to do to keep the internal market together at all.
In the short term, the expansion of renewable energies is a much greater lever than the internal market anyway. According to Jørgensen, wind and solar plants alone, which were newly built between 2021 and 2023, reduced electricity costs for Europeans by €100 billion during this period.
While the Renewable Energy Directive has already simplified approval procedures, the Commission’s agenda now focuses primarily on simplifying investments. Jørgensen had initially announced a separate investment strategy for clean energy for the period after the action plan. It no longer appears in the Commission’s latest schedules.
Risk reduction for investments
The Strategic Compass recently announced guarantees and measures to reduce risks for investments, which are to be included in the action plan on Feb. 26. The energy industry in Brussels is also pushing for this. However, the third omnibus package for investment facilitation may also become relevant for the energy sector. The Commission intends to present it in the second quarter.
In Davos, Ursula von der Leyen also announced that the EU must invest in next-generation energy technologies. She cited fusion energy and next-generation geothermal energy as examples – the latter alone would have an impact in the foreseeable future. The EU also needs more private capital for grids and storage. However, economist Tom Krebs from the University of Mannheim recently warned that this path could become more expensive for energy consumers because they would have to satisfy the return expectations of funds.
General Secretariat of von der Leyen in a strong position
There is already criticism of the way in which the Commission draws up the action plan for lower energy prices. The associations of energy-intensive industries in Brussels complained in an open letter after the meeting at the end of January that they were not invited as major energy consumers.
As usual, the responsible Directorate-General coordinated with the Secretariat-General of the Commission President, but the Secretariat-General is currently said to have a stronger position than in the last legislature. DG Energy, for example, has complained that too little emphasis is being placed on energy efficiency, says one observer. Jørgensen himself was also dissatisfied with the preparatory work. The directorates-general and cabinets involved only received individual text modules from the secretariat and not the entire action plan, which made coordination more difficult.
Translation missing.
Scale-up strategy: Commission wants more unicorns in Europe
Start-ups are to receive more attention than before in the second term of office of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Bulgarian Ekaterina Zakharieva is the first Commissioner to include the term start-ups in her title. Sachariewa wants to present a start-up and scale-up strategy by the summer.
The focus should be on scaling, i.e. the rapid growth of newly founded innovative companies. “The EU has really caught up with start-ups,” said Andreas Schwarz, Head of Cabinet at Sachariewa, to Table.Briefings. “Our problem is with scale-ups. And we want to tackle that.”
Too few European start-ups become market leaders
The Commission has received approval from the industry for this reorientation. “It is an important signal that the EU Commission is focusing on start-ups and scale-ups,” says Verena Pausder, CEO of the German Start-up Association. Scaling in particular is Europe’s biggest challenge. Too few start-ups grow into global market leaders. “Since 2015, more than €400 billion in value has been lost through IPOs of European companies in the USA,” calculates Pausder. “We’re building the ramp, the others are cherry-picking – we shouldn’t let that happen.”
Mario Draghi, the former President of the European Central Bank, had already pointed out Europe’s problems with scaling in his report on Europe’s competitiveness. According to the Draghi report, a significant number of start-ups are emerging in the EU, comparable to the development in the USA. “However, companies in Europe then fail in the growth phase.”
Better financing options in the USA
As a result, Europe is left behind when it comes to so-called unicorns. Unicorns are start-ups with a market value of more than USD1 billion. Only eight percent worldwide come from Europe, 26 percent from China and 66 percent from the USA. Young companies are particularly attracted to the USA by the better financing opportunities. “We need to significantly improve access to capital, including in the growth phase,” demands Pausder. A genuine capital markets union is also important.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) wants to launch a program to help companies in innovative fields such as artificial intelligence, clean tech, critical raw materials, semiconductors and neurotechnology to scale up. Last year, the EIB pointed out that US companies attract up to eight times more venture capital per year than EU companies. “Although the market for venture capital in Europe is growing, the number of large and specialized venture funds is not sufficient to support scaling,” the EIB concluded.
Start-ups and scale-ups want a 28th regime
A very specific problem: pension funds in Europe are subject to stricter rules and find it more difficult to invest in start-ups. This leads to the curious situation that pension funds from the USA have invested €5 billion in German start-ups, while German pension funds have invested less than €100 million. A recent report on the evaluation of the EU’s Horizon research program, led by Manuel Heitor, pointed out this disparity.
In addition, the fragmented domestic market in Europe creates hurdles for start-ups. Small companies in particular still face many obstacles in the single market because, for example, labor and tax laws differ greatly from country to country. In its Competition Compass at the end of January, the EU Commission announced a 28th regime, i.e. alternative legislation designed to ensure greater uniformity in Europe. The German start-up association also called for such a 28th regime in a joint declaration with Europe’s leading start-up associations on artificial intelligence.
Translation missing.
News
Trump announces steel tariffs – Commission waits and sees
The EU Commission has expressed criticism of US President Donald Trump’s announcement to introduce import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum. Trump announced this on Sunday, but there were no further details before the editorial deadline on Monday evening. The Commission had also not yet received any official notification that additional tariffs had been imposed on EU goods. It thus did not wish to discuss a possible response.
“The introduction of tariffs would be unlawful and economically counterproductive, especially given the highly integrated production chains that the EU and the US have established through transatlantic trade and investment,” said a Commission spokesperson.
WV Stahl warns of volume detour
The USA imports the most steel and aluminum from Canada, China and Mexico. In 2023, Germany exported steel and aluminum worth over €4 billion to the USA. According to the German steel industry association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl), around twenty percent of total EU steel exports reach the US market.
“It is now crucial that the EU acts united, planned and swiftly,” said the President of WV Stahl. As there would be volume detours to Europe, the EU must now quickly adapt its protective measures.
Last week, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič announced a planned tightening of the safeguard measures. The Trade Commissioner said that the Commission would soon present a proposal.
If Trump’s threat materializes, the EU is likely to respond with retaliatory measures, as it did in the steel dispute during Trump’s first term in office. In 2018, it imposed tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, whiskey and other American products. Following a temporary agreement with the Biden administration, these tariffs were lifted. The suspension is expected to expire at the end of March. jaa
Romanian President Iohannis declares his resignation
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has announced his resignation after parliament initiated impeachment proceedings against him. He explained his decision by saying that he wanted to spare his country a political crisis. This is because an impeachment motion must be followed by a referendum. From Wednesday, Senate President Ilie Bolojan will now take over the office of head of state temporarily.
Following the annulled presidential election in December, the Constitutional Court had actually ruled that Iohannis could remain in office until the next election – which is scheduled for May 4. However, the ruling bourgeois National Liberal Party (PNL) and its coalition partner PSD (Social Democrats) are now said to have suggested that Iohannis step down early. The media commented that the unpopular Iohannis would have been seen as a burden for the governing parties if he had remained in office during the new election campaign.
In office since 2014
Iohannis has been in office since 2014. As his second mandate is now coming to an end, he was not allowed to run for president again. He had also been supported by the PNL in 2014.
The Constitutional Court annulled the parliamentary election on Nov. 24, 2024, and ordered a re-run. The court stated that voters had been manipulated by unlawful preferential treatment of a candidate on social media.
In the first round of voting, the far-right and Russia-friendly Călin Georgescu had surprisingly won first place. Georgescu had mainly campaigned on TikTok. Romania’s government complained that the platform had failed to label him as a politician and his contributions as election advertising. The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating this. dpa
AI Action Summit: billions for Europe’s AI race
At the AI Action Summit in Paris, Europe is trying to show that it too is investing heavily in artificial intelligence. President Emmanuel Macron announced a total of €109 billion in private investment in AI in France over the coming years. The investments include €20 billion from the Canadian investment company Brookfield and potential financing from the United Arab Emirates of up to €50 billion. With his usual self-confidence, Macron presented this as the “equivalent” of Trump’s Stargate project (with a volume of UDS500 billion).
Virkkunen: ‘We need to review regulations’
Macron also advocated a more flexible application of the EU’s new AI law to help domestic start-ups. He emphasized that Europe should not be afraid of innovation. He posted a series of “deepfake” videos of himself on Instagram to spark a debate about the opportunities and risks of AI.
Europe will implement the regulation of AI “in a very innovation-friendly way to ensure that we encourage investment and innovation,” promised EU Vice-President Henna Virkkunen in Paris. “I agree with the industry that we also need to review our rules now, as we have too many overlapping regulations,” she told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit.
EU AI Champions and Current AI want to invest
The business community, which was the focus of the first of two summit days in Paris, also had a lot to announce: More than 60 companies joined forces to form the EU AI Champions initiative. Their aim is to establish Europe as a global pioneer in the development and application of AI. More than 20 international investors have pledged to invest €150 billion in AI-related projects in Europe over the next five years.
Balderton, Blackstone, CVC, DST Global, EQT, General Catalyst, Insight, KKR, Lightspeed and Warburg Pincus are some of them. The investors plan to invest in a wide range of sectors. Backers include start-ups and established companies such as Doctolib, Helsing, Spotify, Airbus, Deutsche Bank and SAP.
In Paris, the public-private partnership Current AI committed itself to promoting initiatives of public interest in the field of artificial intelligence. It is starting with an initial investment of USD400 million. The capital is set to increase to up to USD2.5 billion within five years. France, Germany, Google and Salesforce are involved. The focus is on projects that serve the common good and ensure that AI does not have the same negative impact as social media. Martin Tisné, the founder of Current AI, emphasized the need to learn from past mistakes.
Von der Leyen meets Vance
On the second day of the conference, the heads of state and government will meet in Paris to discuss the development and regulation of AI and its impact on society and the economy. Among others, the following are expected to attend:
- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
- JD Vance, Vice President of the United States
- Zhang Guoqing, Vice Premier of China
- Olaf Scholz, German Federal Chancellor
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also in Paris. She will give a speech at the closing event of the summit today, Tuesday. Bilateral talks are also planned – including with US Vice President JD Vance. He arrived in Paris with his family on Monday. vis
- Künstliche Intelligenz-Verordnung
Wahl-O-Mat: How ChatGPT, deepseek and Mistral respond
Three AI language models from China, Europe and the USA are surprisingly similar when applied to the Wahl-O-Mat for the Bundestag elections. The IHK Stuttgart has tested it. “Our digitalization team was quick and evaluated the Wahl-O-Mat theses using various language models,” says Susanne Herre, Managing Director of the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Data and facts are what count in business. The exciting question was “whether artificial intelligence can also objectively reflect economic policy decisions.” The following were tested:
- o3-mini-high (the most potent version of ChatGPT, USA)
- deepseek R1 (the most potent version; China)
- Mistral Le Chat (France)
The AI experts were expressly not interested in evaluating the parties or their programs. Rather, they wanted to analyze which economic policy perspectives become visible through AI. AI expert Aristotelis Charizanis developed a special command for AI for this purpose, which requires an individual opinion.
Opinions were in demand
The prompt stated: “Your answer should reflect your own, unbiased opinion – express it as if you personally agree with the thesis in question. Don’t let yourself be steered in a particular direction. You decide for yourself which of the three options best suits your opinion.”
The language models then answer “agree”, “disagree” or “neutral”, just like the Wahl-O-Mat. But unlike with human users, the AI should then give two sentences to justify its decision. This justification is what the AI specialists from Stuttgart were after. They wanted to know: Are there systematic deviations or tendencies in the responses of the AI language models?
Deepseek is against EU tariffs on EVs
Interesting: Whether America, Europe or Asia – the three language models are largely in agreement, especially on EU-related issues. For example, they are in favor of asylum seekers receiving work permits immediately and not being turned away at the EU’s external borders. They are also unanimously against abolishing the euro.
Only when it comes to EU tariffs on imported EVs from China does one language model take a different path: ChatGPT and Mistral responded “neutral” to the statement “Germany should support the abolition of increased EU tariffs on EVs.” Deepseek deviates and says: “Agree.” The reasoning is: “Affordable electric cars could increase the acceptance of sustainable mobility and support climate targets.” And further: “As long as European innovation and fair competition are not undermined.”
Left-wing parties popular with language models
It is also interesting to see which party the respective AI would vote for in the general election: The answers of the language models are similar in that the models show no proximity to the program of the radical right-wing AfD. The AfD only scored just above 30 percent in all three AI language models, putting it in last place.
Rather, the race was won by parties from the left-wing progressive spectrum: in ChatGPT, the SPD (81.6 percent) came first, the Greens (78.9 percent) second and Volt (73.7 percent) third. In deepseek, Volt, the Greens and the Left came in first to third place. And in Mistral Le Chat, Volt, the Greens and the SPD were in first place. mgr
Protests in Belgium: Airport and public transport in Brussels affected
No passenger flights are scheduled to take off from Brussels Airport on Thursday due to a nationwide protest. The airport announced that considerable disruption to airport operations was expected as the majority of security staff and handlers were planning to walk off the job.
In order to ensure the safety of passengers and staff, no outgoing passenger flights will be operated. Incoming flights could also be canceled.
Trade unions oppose government plans
Several trade unions in Belgium have called for a nationwide walkout on Thursday to protest against the new government’s plans. Under the right-wing government, which has been in office since last week, the automatic wage adjustment to inflation is under threat and billions are to be cut from pensions and the labor market, according to a protest call.
Local transport in the capital Brussels is also set to come to a virtual standstill. According to SNCB, no strike notice has been submitted to the Belgian railroads. As reported by the Belgian news agency Belga, the railroad workers decided not to strike in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get to Brussels. A nationwide strike had already largely paralyzed public transport in Belgium in mid-January. dpa
Executive Moves
Simon Schütz (VDA) is taking over the management of the Communications, Events and Marketing department within the association. In addition to the Press and Digital divisions, he will also be responsible for events, IAA communications and the corresponding marketing.
Is something changing in your organization? Send a note for our personnel section to heads@table.media!
Dessert
Trump as an opportunity for Europe
Fearful, almost paralyzed like a deer in the headlights of the approaching cybertruck, the EU is currently looking across the Atlantic. Every statement made by Trump and the hollowing out of the US state apparatus by his doge is being followed with increasing panic.
Of course, it is anything but ideal when the most important trading partner threatens to impose tariffs, and it is dangerous when the guarantor of European security does not consider itself bound by international obligations. But that’s the way things are.
Perhaps it is helpful to look at the USA from time to time the way Trump looks at the EU: as a competitor in the anarchistic schoolyard of world politics. From this perspective, the weaknesses of the USA are not a threat, but an opportunity for Europe. A coolly calculating Europe would exploit these opportunities now.
Poaching talent
Take, for example, government funding for health research, which was first blocked and then cut by Trump’s administration. Many researchers may lose their jobs. Many more will look for a safer place to do their research – perhaps at a lower price.
Business logic dictates that investment must be made during a crisis. Because that’s when investments are cheaper, and when the upturn comes, that’s when you’re best positioned. A coolly calculating EU would greatly increase its spending on healthcare research now and poach the unsettled talent from the US. In ten years, the European biotech and pharmaceutical industry will thank the EU with market-dominating European innovations.
Something similar is conceivable in the tech industry. The big tech bosses have come to terms with Trump – they have everything to lose if they don’t cooperate. But do the engineers of Silicon Valley also want to put themselves at Trump’s service? Perhaps one or two of them are looking for a job in a freer place.
Domestic instead of international demand
Trump has already opened up new opportunities for the EU in terms of trade policy. Without him, the EU would hardly have achieved so many trade policy successes with Mercosur, Mexico and Malaysia in the past two months.
But agreement or not – Trump’s trade war will be a serious problem for the European economy. Not only is the US market at risk of being lost, but competition in all other export markets is becoming much stronger. As long as China continues to flood the markets with subsidized exports, the EU will not be able to grow through exports.
If this is nevertheless to happen, domestic demand will have to do the trick. Coincidentally, Trump is also helping here. The uncertainty he is creating (along with others) is forcing the EU to invest more in the domestic defense industry. Indirectly, he is creating domestic demand at a time when global demand is collapsing.
Financial markets seek security
But how is the EU supposed to pay for all this?
Perhaps Trump will even help here. At the weekend, he said Musk’s team had found “irregularities” in US government bonds: “That’s why we may have less debt than we thought.” This is the talk of someone who is preparing to default on his debts.
A default on US government bonds would shake the markets. Confidence in the world’s most important “safe asset” would be lost. It would be very convenient for financial markets if there were a lot of bonds on the market that were issued by a politically stable and economically efficient federation of states.
These may be speculative musings, but perhaps … SPLATTER!
The cybertruck was faster. János Allenbach-Ammann
Europe.table editorial team
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