Bilzen (Belgium), 12 February (LaPresse) – ‘As we did last year for defence, 2026 will be the Year of Competitiveness for the European economy.’ This was stated by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, upon his arrival at the EU leaders' retreat on competitiveness at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium. "We have a clear priority: to strengthen economic growth in Europe, which is essential for our prosperity, to create positive jobs and to support our economic and social model. There are four main priorities: first of all, we must deepen and complete our single market,‘ he explained. ’We must remove internal barriers and bureaucratic obstacles. The second priority is to grow our businesses. To do this, we need unified and dynamic capital markets to support our SMEs and start-ups, to grow, invest in innovation and modernise our economy." ‘Secondly, we must also grow our large companies, because we need strong companies to compete in the global market. Third priority, in the geo-economic context, we must continue our very proactive trade policy and protect our companies from unfair competition and economic coercion, allowing them to continue to operate, and address the issue of energy costs. And finally, we must invest more and better,’ he explains. ‘Public and private investment, of course. As far as public investment is concerned, we will have the opportunity to discuss the European Union's next multiannual budget later this year. Today, our priority is to unlock private investment, mobilise our savings to invest in our companies and create a more dynamic and vibrant ecosystem for investment,’ he concludes.