Let’s Not Be Afraid!

Are we experiencing a moment of European paralysis? Yes, the pressure is growing, forcing us to adapt. But to thrive, mere survival is not enough. We must chart our own course. The playing field has been reshuffled, and the message is clear: it is urgent to reclaim a degree of autonomy and strength—a true European sovereignty.

Let us not be trapped in yesterday’s debates or drawn into harmful trade wars. We have all the assets needed to build our own future by relying on the excellence of our expertise: products and services with unmatched ecological, social, and health value; innovations that address the challenges of our time; accessible, decarbonised energy; and a fair legal framework that rejects the law of the strongest. By strengthening these foundations—envied by the world—we can fully assert our power and sovereignty.

Yet, while this vision is shared by the majority of our businesses, it struggles to translate into action. Instead, we are witnessing chronic uncertainty and the weakening of our most structuring public policies. The European Green Deal, the budget, the energy mix: the hesitations and setbacks of the past six months have seriously harmed our economy.

The potential reconsideration of the EU’s target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 is yet another example—despite the fact that moving away from fossil fuels is not only an ecological imperative but also an economic one, and a condition for our independence.

This is not an abstract figure disconnected from reality, but a clear and shared objective—without which we cannot build an industrial strategy, support our SMEs, or encourage long-term investment.

In the short term, these wavering decisions slow down our investments and recruitment. In the medium term, they threaten our ability to remain a major economic power, perpetuate our technological and energy dependencies, and weaken our position in future markets.

In the name of competitiveness and European sovereignty, we therefore call on European leaders to stay the course and reaffirm this historic commitment. Because we need a stable European framework to invest, innovate, and transform.

While we expect European leaders to make bold structural decisions, it is not about concessions but about concrete progress—essential conditions for success: mobilising the vast savings of Europeans to invest in our companies, their innovations, and their transformation; guiding 500 million consumers towards products and services of high ecological, health, and social quality; unlocking investment in public-interest infrastructure; and massively supporting the decarbonisation of usage to ensure our long-term sovereignty.

Let’s not be afraid—neither of change nor of ambition. The revolution we are experiencing is profound, and the recipes of the past no longer apply. The time has come to invent a new way of projecting our economy into the future. We can do it—and we owe it to the next generations.

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