Brussels buzzwords of the week: competitiveness and Bolshewokism

EU Confidential

POLITICO

Politics, News Commentary, News

4.4 • 175 Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode we unpack the EU's new buzzword and the main point of discussion at this week's European Council summit: competitiveness. We also bring you another new buzzword from Brussels this week: Bolshewokism. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO's chief Brussels correspondent, Barbara Moens, to recap the leaders' summit and their attempt to make the bloc's economy more competitive with regards China and the United States. We also discuss former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta's newly released report on how to overhaul the EU's single market, and we hear from Letta himself, in conversation with POLITICO's own Giovanna Faggionato. Later, we have a fascinating discussion with Atlantic Council senior fellow and author Elisabeth Braw about her new book "Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World." And we end our episode explaining how the word "Bolshewokism" came to describe a National Conservatism Conference, featuring Nigel Farage and Viktor Orbán, which was upended by local Brussels mayors. Further Reading: "Time for a European single market ‘with teeth’ to take on China, India, leaders told," by Giovanna Faggionato and and Bjarke Smith-Meyer "A new inconvenient truth: Europe’s global plans all require money no one has," by By Karl Mathiesen, Barbara Moens, Giovanna Faggionato and Giorgio Leali "Europe’s hard-right bags big win after ‘own goal’ by Brussels mayors," by Eddy Wax Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.9	There's a new buzzword in the Brussels bubble. Competitiveness. It's the reason EU leaders came to town this week.
0:39.3	The Schumann roundabout was echoing with corporate speak.
0:42.3	Lots of talk about changing the paradigm of the European economy in order to,
0:48.3	and I'm quoting here from some actual discussion points,
0:51.3	secure the Union's economic resilience, industrial renewal, and technological
0:56.5	leadership. But like any good buzzword, competitiveness is a gentle way to get at some uncomfortable
1:04.0	realities. It's a classier way, for example, of talking about money. We need a lot more of it
1:09.7	than we've got to pay for defense and the
1:11.6	green transition. And competitiveness is also a more dignified way of acknowledging Europe's
1:18.0	inferiority complex. European industries fear they're falling behind the U.S. and China.
1:25.4	So what does all this competitiveness talk actually mean in practice? And what do
1:30.9	elections coming up in June and November have to do with this new obsession? I'm Sarah Wheaton, host of
1:40.1	EU Confidential. First, I'm joined by Barbara Moons to give us the recap of the EU Leader Summit.
1:46.2	We'll also hear highlights from my colleague Giovanna Fagionato's interview with Enrico Letta,
1:51.4	the former Italian Prime Minister. He's written a nearly 150-page report on how to overhaul the
1:58.1	EU's single market to make it more, yep, competitive.
2:02.6	Fix it fast, he told Giovanna, as well as EU leaders, or forget about being competitive.
	...

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