"The European Union is increasingly
riven by disputes, with regulators and policymakers pulling in different
directions. It's no wonder that so many voters, especially young ones, support
rebellious populists promising to shake up the status quo, writes Nick Clegg,
Meta's vice president for global affairs and a former British MEP.
Europeans voted. The new parliament
has been elected and the race for the seats of commissioners and president of
the Commission is just beginning. Some arrangements will remain intact, and
some may change under the influence of new blood in parliament. However, this
is not an ordinary day in Brussels.
Europe lags far behind the US
It doesn't matter who manages to
take a seat when the music stops. The task that the European Parliament will
inherit from the previous term is of an existential nature. 30 years ago,
Europe accounted for about a quarter of global GDP. Today we are far behind.
GDP per capita in the EU is half as much as in the USA - it is about 40,000 US dollars per European compared to 80 thousand per capita in the United
States. None of the 10 largest companies in the world come from Europe. None of
the 12 most valuable unicorns, i.e. start-ups valued at USD 1 billion. or more,
is from Europe. Of the 50 largest European companies, none were founded in
the last 30 years.
Our companies are growing slower,
have lower profits and lag behind their non-European competitors in research
and development. This is happening even in industries that have always been Europe's
strong point, such as automotive and manufacturing. Only one of the ten largest
electric vehicle brands in the US last year came from our continent. There are
already plans to open four times more semiconductor factories in China than in
our country.
The gap between the superpowers and
the European Union is widening
The European Union is no longer a
friendly place for innovation and world-recognized companies. As Emmanuel
Macron and Olaf Scholz emphatically stated: “Our Europe is mortal.” According
to them, Europe is experiencing a Zeitenwende - a historical turning point.
However, which direction it will turn remains to be seen.
The era of generative artificial
intelligence is an opportunity to change the status quo. Modern technology may
become the impulse we need most. Goldman Sachs estimates that generative
artificial intelligence could increase global GDP by 7% over the next decade.
Europe is a pioneer in technological regulation, examples of which include:
GDPR, DMA, DSA, and the Artificial Intelligence Act, however, lags behind in
terms of the implementation of these technologies on a large scale. Europe's
regulatory complexity and the patchwork of member state regulations mean that
companies hesitate for a long time before making their products available on
our market. Both Meta and Google have delayed the launch of their AI assistants
in Europe.
Even our most successful companies, such as Volkswagen, are
increasingly choosing the US to create their AI-based products. The rapid
adoption of artificial intelligence in the US and China has further widened the
gap between these superpowers and the European Union.
What is Europe's biggest advantage?
How can Europe change its course?
Building the infrastructure of basic artificial intelligence models is
extremely expensive and energy-intensive. However, deploying and adapting AI
models, especially open source ones, will give European businesses, start-ups
and researchers access to tools they would otherwise not be able to develop
themselves. Thanks to the high quality of education at European universities,
which produce the best talent every year, and thanks to our enormous research
and development capabilities, we can become a global leader in the use of AI.
We can create applications and services that bring new technology closer to
society.
As a proud European, I would like to
see another Meta, Alibaba or Google created on our continent
Europe is still not taking advantage
of its greatest advantage - a single market of 450 million consumers.
European
leaders have repeatedly said that one of their main goals is to compete with
the US and China in technology. They want the next Silicon Valley to be
established on the European continent. I absolutely share this ambition. As a
proud European, I would like to see another Meta, Alibaba or Google created on
our continent. We have all the ingredients for this: a huge consumer market,
great universities, top talent and a track record of experimentation and
innovation.
The European Union is increasingly
torn by disputes
Yet despite all the regulatory
activism – the adoption since 2019 has been staggering 77 new EU legal acts in
the field of digitalisation - we have failed to realize the vision of a digital
single market.
It is striking, for example, that a digital start-up founded in
Amsterdam, wanting to operate throughout the EU, still has to navigate the
different intellectual property regulations of the 27 countries, take into
account different content licensing rules, data protection authorities and
avoid other obstacles, before it is even possible to do anything.
In the 1990s, when I lived in
Brussels as a young man, the single market was a reason for great optimism. I
studied at the College of Europe - where I met my wife Miriam - and became a
Commission official at the height of globalization and European integration.
The Berlin Wall had fallen, the Single European Act had been adopted, the
Maastricht Treaty was being completed and the WTO was already operational. At
the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, I was a Member of the European
Parliament. It seemed then that the world was starting to come closer together,
and the European Union - this extraordinary experiment based on cooperation,
openness and people - was a symbol of this optimism.
It feels like centuries have passed
since then. The financial crisis of 2008 broke the back of globalization. A
cloud of self-reflection has hung over Europe as governments - burdened by huge
deficits and enamored with anti-establishment populists on the left and right -
prioritized issues of national sovereignty over collective endeavors. No
country has turned its back on the European project more than my own country,
the UK. The architects of the single market - not least its British creator,
Lord Cockfield - would roll in their graves if they saw that it did not provide
the prosperity that Europeans need today. Instead, the European Union is
increasingly fragmented and disputed, with regulators and policymakers pulling
in different directions. No wonder so many voters, especially young ones,
support rebellious populists promising to shake up the status quo.
How to stop the European Union's
economic decline?
I truly believe we can regain that
optimism. Our new parliamentarians and commissioners will face an extremely
important task of stopping Europe's economic decline. It won't be easy, but it
is absolutely possible. We just have to use our strengths. The single market is
Europe's greatest asset, but its creation is not yet complete. This work must
be completed. Avoid piecemeal regulation at all costs. Be open to the development
of artificial intelligence. May European creativity, ingenuity and
entrepreneurship restore the optimism we all long for.
The title, lead and subheadings come
from the editorial office
Author
Nick Clegg
He joined Meta in October 2018 as
vice president of global affairs and communications after nearly two decades in
public roles in Europe and the UK. Before being elected to the British
Parliament in 2005, he worked at the European Commission and served for five
years in the European Parliament. In 2007, he became leader of the Liberal
Democrats and served as deputy prime minister in Britain's first coalition
government in 2010-2015 since the war. He wrote two best-selling books:
"Politics: Between the Extremes" and "How To Stop Brexit (and make
Britain great again)"."
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