Balanced Economy Project joins call to resist profit-driven policy ahead of EU Commission President State of the Union

Balanced Economy Project along with other civil society, trade unions, and public interest groups delivered a clear message to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commissioners, and EU Member States in a statement signed by 470 organisations, denouncing the this Commission’s deregulation campaign.

At tomorrow’s ‘State of the Union’ speech to the European Parliament, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will forge ahead with an unprecedented wave of drastic cuts to regulations protecting labour, social, and human rights, as well as digital rights, and the environment as part of the EU’s “competitiveness agenda". 

The organisations warn that over the next four years, the Commission and EU Member States may dismantle rules that govern companies operating in the EU at a scale that will set progress on environmental protection, social rights, digital rights and climate policies back many years. 

Balanced Economy Project says: “A ‘competitiveness agenda’ that prioritises special interests will exacerbate dangerous market concentration, boost inequality and public anger, and provoke a race to the bottom between states in key areas such as tax, environmental policy, labour standards or financial stability. It will also promote rent-seeking which, by raising prices and reducing quality, will harm Europe’s economy. It also means Europe is led by policy choices in other regions, rather than based on what Europe’s people need.”