Europe must shape up or will lose to US and China, say CEOs
Citing everything from over-regulation and cumbersome bureaucracies to the continent’s inability to leverage its market of nearly 450 million people, the executives said Europe was at risk of being left behind in many sectors of the future and called on the region to present a united front and pool resources to boost its competitiveness.
“There is no point in building an Italian corvette ship, a French corvette ship, a Spanish corvette ship, a Swedish corvette ship, a German corvette ship and a British corvette ship,” said Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of defense firm Fincantieri SpA. “We need to spend more on defense, but we need to spend it better. We need to share platforms and projects.”
While these issues have long been hurting European business, things are coming to a head as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and growing competition with China in many of Europe’s key industrial sectors create greater urgency, and CEOs say a change in narrative is critical. In Europe, economic growth, employment and social cohesion are at stake.
While leaders in many industries echoed the notion that Europe could be left behind, Novartis AG CEO Vas Narasimhan said innovative drug launches were being blocked in some European countries as the United States put pressure on drug prices. Pointing out the ease of doing business in the United States, where his company has poured billions of dollars into new facilities and research and development activities, he said, “If Europe wants to attract investments like the United States and China now, it must take steps.”
