Eloi Laurent &Tuuli Hirvilammi
From its origin, the European Union (EU) has been built on the promise that economic success and human well-being go hand in hand. According to the Union’s Treaty, its objective is “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens” (Treaty on European Union, Article 3).
Now, when the European Union is trying to improve its competitiveness through the Competitiveness Compass, it is time to ask what we are competing for. The Compass aims to pave the way for Europe to be the place where innovative technologies, services, and clean products are created, produced, and marketed, while also becoming the first continent to achieve climate neutrality. Yet, the focus on competitiveness risks overlooking the importance of European welfare states that have successfully improved wellbeing in Europe by providing social protection and redistributing resources. Europe should compete to be the most secure, inclusive and sustainable continent to live on, while reducing its reliance on extractivist imports of resources and labor from the Global South. The reduction of material uses and energy demand in Europe would help the EU to reduce its excessive dependencies and reach its goals of climate neutrality.
Amidst the current geopolitical turbulence, mechanisms that were once considered to be solid, such as economic regulatory frameworks, are now being rethought to strengthen defense and strategic competitiveness. Yet, in times of instability, it is important to hold on the democratic values and keep up with social investments that support social cohesion.
The notion of “competitiveness” is not a consensual and robust one, as there is no widely accepted definition of it and when they exist, definitions exclusively rely on existing concepts such as labor cost – which the OECD used extensively in the 1990s and 2000s. For instance, the Davos Summit defines competitiveness as productivity in its Global competitiveness index: therefore, if one is to use competitiveness as a direction/strategy, one needs to define what it means. The most striking and problematic aspect of the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass communication in this respect is the absence of definition of competitiveness as such: this “compass” is a set of actions pointing to an undetermined direction.
What we are left with, then, is the recurring narrative that Europe is lagging behind its competitors and must catch up. However, framing a strategy in these terms effectively means defining Europe’s prosperity exogenously – in relation to what its “competitors” do and value. This stands in stark contrast to the concept of well-being, which offers a sovereign and endogenous definition of prosperity rooted in Europeans’ own aspirations. When sustainable well-being is placed at the center, as in the ToBe project, it opens up a different horizon: one that considers the viability of Europe’s internal vision of prosperity in relation to others, both human and non-human.
In this context, a coalition of eight EU-funded research projects – including ToBe, MERGE, WISE Horizons, REAL, SPES, MAPS, WISER, and SWINS – has addressed a common letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging the EU to reframe its competitiveness agenda around sustainable and inclusive well-being. The signatories call for the integration of well-being indicators into the way competitiveness is guided, monitored, and resourced. The message is clear: Europe’s true competitive advantage lies in its ability to promote peace, uphold democratic values, and foster a prosperous society for both current and future generations. Now is not the time to imitate others, but to lead with a sovereign, value-driven vision of prosperity – one that centers on the well-being of people and the planet.
Read the press release and the letter to the President of the European Commission here: 8 EU-funded projects’ leaders sent a letter to EC President, urging a competitiveness agenda for sustainable and inclusive wellbeing – MERGE