New analysis with @cdgeiser.bsky.social: The EU’s current drive to cut red tape at all costs is weakening Europe. Last week’s failed vote on the Sustainability Omnibus in the European Parliament was the culmination of extreme pressure, poorly designed proposals and political polarisation. Thread:

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Thought-provoking piece by Bloomberg. With some points from my work. The EU has bought time placating Trump with the trade deal. But if this summer of humiliation is to not turn into a century, the question is what the bloc will do with the time it bought. 1/ www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The EU-US trade deal is here - it's probably not the end of uncertainty as the details are ironed out, but it's a momentous deal. In sum, it's a political defeat for the EU, but in economic terms I see it as, under the circumstances, a win of sorts. 🧵

Die Bundesregierung sagt, Sie könne den Kommissions-Vorschlag zum neuen EU-Haushalt nicht akzeptieren, weil ein "umfassender Aufwuchs" in Zeiten der Konsolidierung nationaler Haushalte nicht vermittelbar sei. Ich halte das aus ein paar Gründen für keine kluge deutsche Position:

Last I checked, the EU was highly regulated a decade ago too, when German automakers were dominant. Last I checked, Chinas car sector gained global prominence thanks to a web of tariffs, subsidies, forced tech transfer and gov innovation support. How’s EU regulation to blame?

It seems that the Commission will indeed propose one big fund to cover all existing structural funds and the CAP and to organise the payout from this fund via a single national plan That would mean a huge departure from how the EU budget and the MFF negotiations have worked so far. Here is why:

The Socialists in the EP have leveraged a no-confidence vote put up by the far right to effectively gut a major part of the reform of the EU budget. Stunning development that further imperils the prospect for a major MFF reform. I had hopes that this time would be different. But I was naive. Thread:

1/ The leak for the European Competitiveness Fund has just been made public. Here's a breakdown of the main elements of the proposal. As expected, the COM proposes consolidating several of its directly managed programmes. The draft points to 12/14 programmes merged under a single legal framework

Wer Lust hat, in einem tollen Team an EU-Finanzpolitik zu arbeiten! Wir suchen einen Project Manager für das Europa-Team der Bertelsmann Stiftung. jobsearch.createyourowncareer.com/BertelsmannS...

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10% across the board seems to be EU‘s best case scenario now - wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with something considerably worse, especially if there is no credible signal on retaliation if this doesn’t hold. UK has been there and done that with steel and alu.

The pretty concise position paper of the new German government on the next long term EU budget aka MFF just dropped. It lends clear support to the Commission's bold reform ideas on the MFF architecture while unsurprisingly also remaining German in a few crucial areas. Here are the main elements:

New Policy Brief by @lucas-res-car.bsky.social with recommendations for a smart European Competitiveness Fund: Clear scope, full toolbox, agile governance—read more here: bst-europe.eu/competitiven...

1/ The EU wants to bundle R&I funding into a new Competitiveness Fund (ECF). The idea: less fragmentation, more strategic focus. The ambition is right. But whether the ECF delivers will depend entirely on how it's designed. Here are four principles that should guide it. bst-europe.eu?p=38401&prev...