In this Policy Triangle, supported by Humane World for Animals, we explore how Europe can modernise its chemical testing framework as part of the upcoming revision of REACH. Policymakers are considering how to update the regulation for the first time in nearly two decades, in light of advances in non-animal safety assessments and the European Commission’s forthcoming roadmap to phase out animal testing.
Since then, questions have emerged about whether Europe can align regulatory frameworks with scientific innovation quickly enough to maintain global leadership. Will tools such as regulatory sandboxes, clear roadmaps and centralised validation processes enable trust and collaboration across stakeholders, or risk falling short of expectations?
Experts from Humane World for Animals, Cefic and the Dutch government debate whether the EU can build a future ready system that protects people and the environment while driving innovation and competitiveness.
In this Euractiv Thought Leadership Interview, Jennifer Baker sits down with Romano Hoofman, Strategic Development Director, imec & EU Chips Design Platform Coordinator and Patrick Pype, Strategic Partnerships Director, NXP, to discuss Europe’s Chips Future — the strategic investments driving the continent’s semiconductor industry and their real-world impact.
They explore why semiconductors are essential for Europe’s sovereignty and competitiveness, how strategic investments are reshaping the landscape, and what tangible results have already been achieved under the EU Chips Act. The discussion looks at:
- Why chips are crucial for Europe’s future and global supply chains
- How the EU Chips Act aims to strengthen Europe’s fabrication and design capacity Ensuring a level playing field for investment with other continents
- How semiconductors contribute to clean energy and power efficiency
- Supporting industrialisation and innovation through EU-level cooperation
- Stimulating new startups and research collaboration to grow Europe’s chip ecosystem
Patrick and Romano share insights on Europe’s progress so far and the next steps needed to translate research excellence into industrial success.
The European Union aims to reach climate neutrality by 2050, with a 55% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Meeting these goals will not only require decarbonising our energy system but also fundamentally transforming industrial production.
As part of its efforts to decarbonise energy-intensive industries, the European Commission is designing the legislative proposal Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA). The IAA will build on the provisions of the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) to speed up permitting procedures and the clean transition in these sectors while maintaining competitiveness. Part of the strategy is to create markets that drive early demand for low-carbon products in the EU. Called “Green Lead Markets”, these markets aim to create strong, policy-backed demand for products made with clean technologies, notably hydrogen-based products, in sectors like steel, fertilisers, chemicals, and transport.
The goal of Green Lead Markets is to actively stimulate the market for green products through different measures and lead to cost reductions. Those include carbon footprint labels, green public procurement, and buyer obligations, supporting industrial competitiveness while reducing emissions. However, criticisms of Green Lead Markets remain, for instance on the high cost of green products. Some argue that the EU has an opportunity to become the global standard-setter for low-carbon products, but achieving this will need coordinated market strategies, investment, and regulation.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to explore Green Lead Markets and the potential they hold for driving industrial decarbonisation across the EU. Questions to be discussed include:
- What is the role of Green Lead Markets in decarbonising industries in the EU?
- How can the EU ensure Green Lead Markets create lasting demand for green products? What role will the upcoming IAA play in this?
- How will Green Lead Markets help Europe stay competitive?
The EU-US trade deal introduced during President Trump's administration marks a turning point for transatlantic economic relations, with direct consequences for Europe’s highly integrated industrial value chains. While the agreement promises greater predictability and tariff reduction in some sectors, lingering disputes over standards, subsidies, and state support continue to create uncertainty for European exporters.
In addition, the United States imposed in August 2025 new tariffs that are far higher than this 15% on a broad range of industrial products, in the context of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium derivatives. About 40% of US machinery imports from the EU are now subject to a 50% tariff on the metal content of the product. Moreover, it leads to additional bureaucracy. It is impossible for companies to find out where steel was cast and aluminium melted for each part. That is why some companies have stopped exports completely to the United States. These dynamics are particularly acute in industries where global competitiveness relies on innovation, scale, and stable market access.
European industrial exporters—especially manufacturers of machinery and hightech equipment—are facing increasing challenges as access to key markets like the United States and China becomes more restricted. Some stakeholders believe that Europe’s current trade strategy might not be fit for purpose. Considering this, industrial policy and trade diplomacy will be central in shaping Europe’s response to these challenges. These could strengthen the EU’s capacity for innovation, resilience, and sustainability, ensuring that European manufacturers remain competitive despite shifting global value chains.
Beyond the transatlantic relationship, the EU’s ability to deepen collaboration with other global actors such as China, India, and Mercosur will be essential. These partnerships not only offer alternative growth markets for European industrial goods but also serve as testing grounds for advancing fair trade practices or sustainability standards.
Listen to this Euractiv Virtual Conference to explore the implications of the recent EU-US trade deal and assess its impact on Europe’s export-oriented industrial sector. Questions to be addressed include:
- What is the current state of transatlantic trade in industrial goods?
- What is the impact of the US tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives and on key EU industrial sectors?
- How are European machine manufacturers adapting to market pressures?
- What is the role of emerging EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Mercosur, India, and other actors?
- Could these FTAs compensate for losses in traditional markets like the US?
How can artistic expression and immersive experiences deepen our understanding of the ocean? Euractiv's Xhoi Zajmi and Embodied Sounds' Joshua Sam Miller explore how art meets ocean advocacy, connecting communities in meaningful ways.
After the International Maritime Organization (IMO) voted to postpone the adoption of its Net Zero Framework by 12 months, stakeholders fear that global shipping could enter another year without clear direction. For Europe’s shipping and energy sectors to hit fast-forward, the months ahead will be pivotal in proving that clear policy direction and coordinated investment can deliver both climate ambition and industrial competitiveness.
This pause on the global stage puts the spotlight on Europe. The EU is tasked with doubling its efforts to modernise and decarbonise the maritime sector by working to ensure that the transition to clean fuels is not only possible, but economically viable.
Policymakers and industry are now faced with translating the IMO's global climate ambition into practical measures that safeguard Europe’s competitiveness - by ensuring a sufficient and affordable supply of sustainable fuels, upgrading port infrastructure across Member States, and supporting shipowners in adopting new technologies. These steps will be key in keeping Europe at the forefront of maritime innovation and industrial leadership.
Among alternative fuels, clean ammonia is gaining momentum as a zero-carbon energy carrier. Produced using renewable and low-carbon energy, ammonia emits no carbon when combusted, and benefits from an existing global production and trade network. Leveraging this infrastructure can help reduce costs and accelerate the transition to cleaner fuels – provided that production, safety, and environmental standards are robustly managed.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss how Europe can turn the IMO’s delay into an opportunity for leadership, and to explore the role of ammonia in decarbonising the maritime sector - from global regulation to EU implementation.
How can ocean literacy empower citizens, shape policy, and inspire collective action to protect Europe’s seas? Euractiv’s Xhoi Zajmi speaks with Adeline Plé from the Surfrider Foundation Europe and Eliane Vera Paz from Atlantic Cities, to understand how our connection to the ocean can drive meaningful change.
Under the framework of the Spain Digital Week, the first-ever initiative in Brussels that activates policy convenings (both public and private) on the role of the Spanish community in shaping the European Union’s economic and digital policy agenda, Adigital -the Spanish Association for the Digital Economy-, through its Permanent Office in Brussels, organizes this public policy conference on the relevant issue of economic competitiveness and digitalization as the main driver, with EURACTIV as its European Media Partner.
This Policy Conference focuses on boosting economic competitiveness through digitalization and strategic investments. It explores the connections between the Multiannual Financial Framework and the proposal for the European Competitiveness Fund, the Startup and Scaleup Strategy, and Competitiveness Compass to deliver concrete policy options for accelerating digital investments and strengthening Europe’s tech strategic autonomy, by creating a clear, agile governance framework that secures Europe’s leadership in the global digital economy.
Organised by: Adigital
Media Partner: Euractiv
Despite significant progress on the supply side, the EU market for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) is growing more slowly than anticipated across all vehicle segments, including cars and vans (LDVs), as well as medium- and heavy-duty trucks, buses and coaches (HDVs).
For example, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the share of electric vehicle sales increased in 2024 in 14 out of 27 EU member states. However, it either stalled or declined in the remaining ones, including in key markets such as Germany and France, largely due to the phasing out or reduction of subsidies.
To tackle these challenges, the European Commission has put forward several proposals aimed at accelerating ZEVs adoption. The most recent suggests extending exemptions from tolls and road user charges for zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles (trucks and buses) until June 2031, replacing the previous 2025 deadline.
Nevertheless, some stakeholders argue that more can be done to stimulate the ZEV market across different vehicle segments, and suggest a range of policy options.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to explore the right mix of policy instruments needed to drive ZEVs demand and support Europe’s climate and industrial objectives. Questions to be discussed include:
• Why is ZEVs demand lagging in parts of the EU despite regulatory clarity and growing supply?
• What tools do governments have at their disposal to stimulate demand (e.g. fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, public procurement strategies, mandates)?
• Can a pan-EU approach be effective, or should incentives remain within the remit of national governments?
• Are mandates a viable solution for corporate fleets? What risks and opportunities do they present?
• What lessons can be drawn from frontrunner countries such as Norway, Switzerland and others?
The European Commission’s upcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA) is set to reshape the future of connectivity in Europe. By overhauling the rules that govern telecom operators, cloud services, and content providers, the DNA raises fundamental questions about fairness, competition, innovation, and the very architecture of our open internet.
Listen to this hybrid event to examine the risks and opportunities, and jointly debate what kind of DNA will truly serve Europeans in the years ahead.
Panel 3 – How Can the Digital Networks Act Truly Deliver for Europeans?
Central question: How can we ensure that the DNA becomes a tool that delivers best-in-class connectivity and fosters competition?
To that end, this panel will cut through perception to examine the realities: the financial health of telecom companies, the state of network roll-out, as well as the dynamics between tech and telcos.
The discussion will unpack persistent arguments driving the DNA debate (investment gaps, traffic growth, AI’s impact) and the telecom sector’s push for consolidation. Most importantly, the panel will consider what legislative design choices could make the DNA genuinely effective for European consumers, businesses, and innovators.
The European Commission’s upcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA) is set to reshape the future of connectivity in Europe. By overhauling the rules that govern telecom operators, cloud services, and content providers, the DNA raises fundamental questions about fairness, competition, innovation, and the very architecture of our open internet.
Join this hybrid event to examine the risks and opportunities, and jointly debate what kind of DNA will truly serve Europeans in the years ahead.
Panel 1 – An Uneven Playing Field for Connectivity: Myth or Reality?
Central question: Should rules originally designed to regulate telecom operators be extended to the wider tech sector?
In its white paper on how to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs and recent DNA call for evidence, the European Commission asserts there is increasing convergence between telecoms and the tech sector (particularly cloud and content providers). Telecom providers, for their part, build on this assumption to advance claims that the regulatory framework therefore should converge as well.
This panel will unpack the structural and functional differences between the two sectors, while also examining the collaborative dynamics that underpin their relationships. We will walk through the patchwork of existing EU frameworks to answer one question: is extending the EECC to digital actors necessary, fair, or even workable?
Panel 2 – How Does the DNA Risk Threatening the Open Internet?
Central question: What concrete risks does the Digital Networks Act pose to the open internet?
This panel will examine the reality of collaboration between telecoms and tech, and assess dangerous proposals that keep resurfacing – in the DNA call for evidence and earlier public consultations, for example.
A central theme will be how any form of dispute resolution for IP interconnection would evolve into network fees – and how such measures would fundamentally reshape the way the internet functions today. Experts with first-hand experience will share their insights, underscoring the real-world stakes for competition, innovation, and end users.
In the context of the EU’s reindustralisation efforts, aimed at strengthening its manufacturing sector, boosting economic growth, and enhancing its strategic independence, new technologies and innovations continue to emerge. Industrial workplace environments are evolving too, reshaping the landscape for workers across all industries. As these transformations can pose risks to workers' physical and mental health, the need to safeguard their well-being and safety is paramount. This shift also emphasises the need for preventive measures, adapted workplaces, and coherent policies at EU level.
To better protect workers, the European Commission has introduced several key initiatives, including the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027. The Occupational safety and health (OSH) Framework Directive also sets out core principles aimed at improving workers’ wellbeing. All these efforts are supported by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), which advocates for safer and healthier workplaces.
However, despite these EU initiatives, legislation on workers’ health and safety is still not aligned across EU member states. Some stakeholders are therefore calling for more comprehensive, all-encompassing and worker-centered EU policies.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to explore how to protect workers’ health and safety in the EU, and how innovation is transforming industrial workplaces. Questions to be addressed include:
• How do the EU’s reindustrialisation efforts shape new industrial workplaces? How do they impact workers’ health and safety?
• What practical EU legislative tools and measures can be implemented to address these challenges?
• How can efficient practices for worker protection be shared across EU member states?
• How can we proactively design EU worker-centric policies that equip the workforce for future workplaces, driven by rapid technological change? How to ensure that work legislation is uniform across member states?
Competitiveness is at the heart of the EU’s agenda as it transitions toward a more sustainable economy. The Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal provide new direction to achieve this shift.
Circularity focuses on the entire life cycle of many products via material use reduction, product maintenance and servicing, as well as strategies such as reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling. These actions extend the life of materials, preserve value across supply chains, and minimise resource waste. A circular economy, with its potential to drive sustainable competitiveness, increase strategic autonomy and promote innovation, offers concrete solutions to some of the EU's most pressing industrial and environmental challenges.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) aims to improve the circularity, energy performance, recyclability, and durability of products like textiles or steel and aluminum. While circularity policies are often framed around consumer products, industrial circularity presents a different set of challenges and opportunities. Consequently, stakeholders have raised concerns that the regulation does not currently differentiate between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) circularity needs.
To address these challenges, the European Commission is advancing other initiatives, including the Circular Economy Act and a revision of the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE). These aim to support the EU’s goals under the Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal to increase recycled material in the EU economy, particularly in areas like waste from electrical and electronic equipment.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss the future of B2B circularity in the EU. Questions to be addressed include:
• What are the main issues faced by industry in becoming more circular? How can it be ensured that all resources are used?
• How can the EU address current regulatory gaps, including the need to distinguish between B2B and B2C circularity requirements?
• How effective is the ESPR in promoting circularity, and what improvements are needed?
• What policy tools can drive and encourage circularity across all industrial sectors? What role can industry play in shaping the next policy agenda?
• How will the Circular Economy Act strengthen existing EU initiatives?
The European Union’s ambitious climate goals demand a fundamental transition of its industrial base. As one of the most CO2-intensive industries, the steel sector stands at the forefront of this shift. Transitioning to climate neutrality presents significant challenges but also offers an opportunity for Europe to lead globally in the production of low-emission steel while contributing to the continent’s economic resilience. Achieving this vision hinges on the creation of European lead markets, requiring targeted measures to integrate low-emission steel into steel-using sectors progressively.
The Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS) represents a critical milestone. This labeling system for low-emission steel has the potential to become a game-changer, driving the establishment of lead markets for clean steel while fostering innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability throughout the value chain.
In collaboration with our media partner Euractiv, this high-level event will bring together policymakers, industry leaders, standardization bodies, and civil society to explore how robust labeling frameworks can stimulate demand for low-emission steel. Discussions will focus on the role of harmonized standards in ensuring transparency, building consumer trust, and enabling public and private procurement practices that reward climate-friendly solutions.
Key topics include the current political landscape, the design and implementation of effective labeling systems such as LESS, and their potential to accelerate investments in breakthrough technologies. The event will also address challenges such as certification, traceability, and alignment with international markets.
Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of Europe’s steel industry and its pivotal role in achieving climate neutrality.
As part of its efforts to increase European competitiveness, the European Commission adopted a simplification package, the Omnibus I, in February 2025. This covers several areas, such as sustainable finance rules, due diligence reporting and the carbon border adjustment mechanism, among others. Decided under the previous Commission term, they are already being reviewed under the guise of competitiveness of European industry.
One of the regulations included in the package, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), mandates companies to report on their sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities on a yearly basis, and for that report to be audited by an independent third party.
Several companies that have reported this year under the current CSRD argue that the practices of the authorised audit firms have made reporting too extensive and complex, and therefore too expensive and not time-efficient internally, on top of not always focusing on the most material elements of a company’s sustainability footprint. In this quest for overall simplification of the Directive, some stakeholders are calling for auditing requirements to also be streamlined.
One issue that stakeholders see with the current transposition of CSRD is that less than a quarter of EU Member States authorise Independent Assurance Service Providers (IASPs), which results in a highly concentrated market around a small amount of authorised companies. By opening the market to IASPs, companies in scope will have access to a wider range of assurance providers. This can lead to making specialised expertise more accessible, especially for smaller companies that will be in scope of the CSRD in 2029, thus lowering the cost and burden of compliance, without lowering the ambition and effectiveness of the Directive.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss how the simplification of sustainability reporting and assurance can become a reality and an opportunity for EU competitiveness. Questions to be addressed include:
- What impact does sustainability reporting have on investment levels?
- What makes double materiality reporting essential?
- What are the benefits of opening the market to IASPs?
- How can the European Commission best review the concentration of the assurance market and ensure diversification?
- What could be the ideal guidelines for companies to conduct voluntary reporting and assurance, so that it remains affordable for organisations of all sizes?
- What are some concrete examples of the ways in which the revision of CSRD can strengthen Europe’s economy? How do these compete on an international level?
With the world on track to 3°C of warming by the end of this century, the scientific community and a growing number of institutions are exploring climate technologies that could reduce the worst impacts of global warming.
These include Solar Radiation Modification (SRM): intentional, large-scale approaches designed to cool the planet by enhancing the reflection of sunlight back into space. They are not a substitute for emissions reductions, but could potentially help manage the consequences of a significantly warmer world, including widespread crop failures, the collapse of critical ecosystems, the inundation of low-lying nations, and the intensification of climate-driven conflict and displacement.
Some have called them 'technologies of desperation' – an idea that only exists because of persistent delays in mitigation efforts.
While deployment is not currently an option - due to serious environmental, social, ethical, and geopolitical concerns - public research in this field remains underfunded, especially in the EU. This gap is opening the door for private capital to step in, often without the transparency or public oversight of such sensitive work demands. Without public funding, the EU risks limiting its ability to build in-house expertise needed to shape the science and influence the crucial international governance decisions that will eventually need to be made.
In late 2024, the EU’s Chief Scientific Advisors, at the request of the European Commission, released an opinion on SRM, recommending that European institutions support responsible and comprehensive research, including on risks and side-effects. Ideally, such research should be backed by public funding that is additional to funding dedicated to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
But this idea is controversial. Critics warn that it could undermine mitigation and adaptation efforts or lead us down a slippery slope toward eventual deployment. Others argue that, without a clear governance framework, we risk having SRM research that is fragmented, opaque, and potentially irresponsible, often led by unaccountable private actors.
A well-defined set of rules could ensure that research remains transparent, accountable, and firmly separated from any premature push for deployment, while keeping the focus squarely on urgent climate action.
Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference for a discussion on the scientific, ethical, and political dimensions of Solar Radiation Modification research. Together with leading experts and policymakers, we’ll explore:
- What is SRM, what might it offer in the future, and why is it so controversial?
- Could SRM shift global power dynamics, and how can the EU position itself to lead in shaping global rules and safeguards?
- Where are the biggest knowledge gaps and how can public research help fill them, transparently and ethically?
- What would responsible SRM research look like?
- How do we get it right for future generations, ensuring that today’s decisions don’t create tomorrow’s regrets?
The European Commission highlights that nearly half of EU adults still lack basic digital skills, even though 90% of jobs now require them, posing a major challenge to Europe’s economic competitiveness. Digital skills are essential for daily life, advancing STEM learning, and enabling active, informed citizenship. Demand is growing for competencies in cybersecurity, AI, and digital collaboration, especially with the rise of remote work and online communication.
This year, the Commission published a communication on the Action Plan on Basic Skills and the Union of Skills, setting out key actions. To boost digital skills across Europe, it will update the Digital Competence Framework in 2025 to include emerging technologies like AI, develop guidelines to strengthen digital literacy in vocational education and training (VET), and create a toolkit to integrate basic skills into apprenticeships. The Commission will also promote high-quality teaching materials through EU Code Week and develop EU-wide best practices by 2026 for assessing digital skills in schools to ensure consistent evaluation.
Following the midway point of the Digital Education Action Plan adopted in 2020, the Commission will present a 2030 Roadmap in 2025 to promote equal access to digital education, support AI literacy, and build long-term partnerships with EU-based EdTech providers. Separately, it will implement a STEM Education Strategic Plan to encourage more students, especially girls and women, to pursue STEM studies and careers, while using Erasmus+, the Digital Europe Programme, and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to establish transnational university-business partnerships to train people in sectors with severe skills gaps.
In the run up to EU Code Week 2025, which will take place from 11-26 October, join this Euractiv Virtual Conference to take stock of the Digital Education Action Plan just after its halfway mark and explore what’s next for digital skills in Europe. Some questions to be discussed include:
– What does examining the Digital Education Action Plan at its midway point reveal about its successes and challenges? What will be the focus for the second half?
– What should the 2025 update of the Digital Competence Framework include to reflect emerging technologies and support digital skills development?
– What role do digital skills play in improving the EU’s global competitiveness, and which sectors could benefit most from stronger digital capacities?
– Is current EU action enough to close the digital skills gap, or is more legislation and investment needed, and if so, on which areas should it focus?
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
How can young people help shape policies for a healthy, sustainable ocean? That was the question at the heart of the EU4Ocean Coalition’s 2024 Challenge of the Year. Xhoi Zajmi from Euractiv, Nina Dietz and Jan Feuring from Young Citizens’ Council for the Ocean – one of the winning projects bringing fresh energy and bold ideas to the future of ocean governance – delve into the most pressing issues related to our oceans.
In this Euractiv Thought Leadership Interview, journalist Dave Keating sits down with Javier Silva, Head of Sustainability and Community Relations at SQM, one of the world’s largest lithium producers. Javier discusses Chile's pivotal role in the global lithium supply, the unique challenges of operating in the Atacama Desert, and SQM’s evolving approach to sustainability and social responsibility.
The conversation dives deep into:
- How lithium is extracted sustainably from the Salar de Atacama
- SQM’s community outreach efforts and long-term partnerships with indigenous communities
- Addressing water use and environmental concerns in one of the driest places on Earth
- Empowering indigenous women through the AMA project
- Building trust, transparency, and international cooperation with the EU
- Planning for a future beyond mining for local communities
Javier emphasizes the importance of genuine relationships, co-created programs, and respectful engagement, offering a compelling look at how the future of clean energy must also be socially and ethically responsible.
In this podcast episode, part of our Project EUYou, Euractiv's host Christoph Schwaiger speaks with Dr. László Andor, former EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (2010-2014) and Secretary General of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies. They explore Hungary’s complex relationship with EU cohesion funds, the impact of rule of law concerns on funding access, and how political shifts - like a potential government change - could reshape Hungary's future within the EU. From suspended investments to broader implications for democracy and economic growth, the discussion highlights what's at stake for both Hungary and the European Union.