Leaseurope Engages in EU Competitiveness Compass Discussion

On 29 January 2025, the Commission announced work on the EU’s new Competitiveness Compass, the first major initiative of this mandate providing a strategic and clear framework to steer the Commission's work. 

1. The Compass is intended to future-proof Europe’s competitiveness position vis a vis other parts of the world, by strengthening its industrial base and ability to innovate.  

2. Leaseurope has outlined how leasing and rental could support the Competitiveness Compass objectives, particularly in relation to financing and regulatory simplification, in discussions with key Commission services and policymakers.   

3. The three pillars, or ‘transformational imperatives’, are closing the innovations gap, developing a joint roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness, and reducing excessive dependencies and increasing security.  

These are in turn underpinned by five ‘horizontal enablers’: 

1. Simplification: This enabler aims at drastically reducing the regulatory and administrative burden. It also involves a systematic effort to make procedures for accessing EU funds and obtaining EU administrative decisions simpler, faster, and more efficient. The upcoming Omnibus proposal will simplify sustainability reporting, due diligence, and taxonomy. Furthermore, the Commission will facilitate doing business for thousands of small mid-cap companies. The Compass sets a target of cutting by at least 25% the administrative burden for firms and by at least 35% for SMEs. 

2. Lowering barriers to the Single Market: For 30 years, the Single Market has been Europe's tried and tested engine for competitiveness. To improve its functioning across all industries, a Horizontal Single Market Strategy will modernise the governance framework, removing intra-EU barriers and preventing the creation of new ones. In addition, the Commission will take the opportunity to make standard-setting processes faster and more accessible, in particular for SMEs and start-ups. 

3. Financing competitiveness. The EU lacks an efficient capital market that turns savings into investments. The Commission will present a European Savings and Investments Union to create new savings and investment products, provide incentives for risk capital, and ensure investments flow seamlessly across the EU. A refocused EU budget will streamline access to EU funds in line with EU priorities.  

4. Promoting skills and quality jobs. The foundation of Europe's competitiveness is its people. To ensure a good match between skills and labour market demands, the Commission will present an initiative to build a Union of Skills focusing on investment, adult and lifelong learning, future-proof skills creation, skill retention, fair mobility, attracting and integrating qualified talent from abroad and the recognition of different types of training to enable people to work across our Union. 

5. Better coordination of policies at EU and national level. The Commission will introduce a Competitiveness Coordination Tool, which will work with Member States to ensure implementation of shared EU policy objectives at both EU and national level, identify cross-border projects of European interest, and pursue related reforms and investments. In the next Multiannual Financial Framework, a Competitiveness Fund will replace multiple existing EU financial instruments with similar objectives, providing financial support to the implementation of actions under the Competitiveness Coordination Tool. 

Within the context of this exercise, Leaseurope has ongoing engagements with DG GROW, FISMA, CONNECT, MOVE and CLIMA. Furthermore, we have explained the role leasing and rental can play in relation to these pillars, especially with regards to financing and simplication with the Cabinets of Commissioners Séjourné, Hoekstra, Virkkunen, von der Leyen, McGrath and Ribera.