Political discontent is rising in Europe and the EU is facing a complex challenge – improving competitiveness while simultaneously preventing the growth of regional inequalities. Unleashing competitiveness means taking concrete actions to give Europe the lead in complex technologies such as AI, to unleash innovation and entrepreneurship but also to correct a false narrative that the EU is falling behind on all economic fronts.
But the biggest challenge, by far, that is fuelling discontent and increasingly threatens our democracy is Europe’s regional divide. The rise in discontent and populism is particularly driven by regions experiencing low employment growth.
To strengthen the EU, we urgently need to develop strategies that promote overall economic growth, while ensuring that the benefits are distributed more evenly across people and regions. This contribution to the CEPS special series ‘The EU’s Path to 2030’ sets out seven pathways that European policymakers should consider as pressing priorities if the EU is to mitigate rising scepticism and create a more cohesive union by 2030.
This CEPS contribution is part of a special series ‘The EU’s path to 2030’, where each of our research units were invited to provide insights on key policy files, offering guidance and recommendations for policymakers throughout the course of the new mandate up until 2030 (and sometimes beyond). Find other contributions to this series here.
