A 397-page EC report, released shortly before the CJEU's verdicts against Apple and Google, says the EU's competition enforcement can be “harmful to innovation”
I don't think this requires further comments. … Jonatan Tylsgaard Larsen : A challenging yet liberating read. Finally, someone has tied up the loose ends. And it reflects exactly what we #rudpedersen address daily in our 19 offices across Europe. … Alexandros Bregiannis : Mario Draghi outlines his plan to make Europe more competitive — Draghi's ideas that must turn into reality: — ✅ Simplifying regulation in areas like #AI and #privacy. … Robert Asselin : Mario Draghi, former Italian Prime Minister and President of the European Central Bank, has released his highly anticipated report on EU competitiveness. … Olivier Lemaitre : My initial, not super nuanced, reaction to the Draghi report: — The positive: — space is mentioned in the report … Vittorio Colao : I recommend to those who care about the future of Europe to read the Draghi report: we can build a stronger, better and more cohesive EU but only with decisive and timely interventions. …
That tension was already visible when Apple withheld AI features from the EU, a move described by the competition chief as an anticompetitive declaration. The report gives companies and policymakers a common reference point for arguing over whether overlapping rules constrain product launches and investment.
First-order effects
EU competition authorities and lawmakers face a more explicit trade-off between enforcing digital-market rules and demonstrating that enforcement supports innovation.
Apple and Google gain a policy argument to deploy alongside their legal and compliance responses; the report itself does not alter the ongoing rules or court outcomes.
Second-order effects
DMA and AI Act implementation may draw greater scrutiny over compliance burden, timing and whether requirements can be simplified without weakening contestability protections.
Smaller developers and European technology firms could benefit if clearer or lighter processes reduce friction, but they could lose leverage if reforms dilute obligations on platform gatekeepers.
Third-order effects
If the competitiveness critique shapes policy, EU digital regulation could move toward more coordinated design across competition, AI and privacy rules rather than adding separate compliance layers.
The enduring test will be whether simplification preserves interoperability and user choice—the mechanisms intended to curb gatekeeper power—rather than becoming a rationale for weaker enforcement.
The trend: Europe is increasingly being forced to reconcile its role as a global digital regulator with pressure to make its market more hospitable to innovation and deployment.
A new report released by the #EU has found that heavy-handed European laws & regulations targeting innovative companies have stifled technological progress and created an “existential” threat to Europe's economy.
🚨 Gloves are off: Mario Draghi blasts EU tech laws for hampering innovation and imposing “ex-ante” practices to avert “potential yet undetermined risks,” like the AI Ac. “With this legislation we've given ourselves, we're actually self-defeating, we're killing our companies.” [im…
🇪🇺 The EU is confused about its goals. Instead of leading in digital regulation, it should focus on digital adoption, prompting policymakers to reevaluate objectives for a competitive Europe. Our latest commentary ⤵️ https://datainnovation.org/...
Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank head, said that the European Union needs a far more coordinated industrial policy, more rapid decisions and massive investment if it wants to keep pace economically with rivals like the US and China. Read more https://www.reuters.com…
In weeks like these - Draghi report, EU fines on big tech, crisis of EU automotive industry - it comes to haunt the EU and its member states that they host no news organisation with the global reach and stature of an FT, Reuters, Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal. The task of
The Draghi report contains one of the most spot-on critiques for the current state of EU industrial policy I have read so far. And it comes with some solid ideas on how to move forward. Here are the three main takeaways.
While Draghi's report makes both sensible points (like enforcing GDPR faster) and strange ones (falling for the gen AI hype), it's sad to see a progressive neoliberal join the misguiding deregulation-at-any-cost populism known from right-wing technocrats and big tech lobbyists.
finally getting around to reading through the Draghi report on declining European tech competitiveness. I've spent the last 15 years making this simple point highlighted here in multiple books, papers, chapters, and essays, so I was pleased to see the report acknowledge the [imag…
In his report, Draghi points out that inconsistent and restrictive regulations block innovation. This is exactly what Venture Capitalist @NilsBeers and I wrote about in our piece “Regulation vs Innovation: How to Save the EU from Global Irrelevance”. Our 5 key solutions: 👇🏼 [imag…
Draghi: EU's regulatory stance towards tech co's hinders innovation. EU now has over 100 tech-focused laws & over 270 regulators active in the digital space. Many laws take a precautionary approach, dictating business practices ex ante. We've been saying this for years. A 🧵 [imag…