Progress is ongoing on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), a key component of the EU’s forthcoming multiannual budget and future industrial policy. In this context, the European Parliament has published the briefing Can the European Competitiveness Fund deliver?, at the request of the Committee on Budgets (BUDG). The document offers an initial structured assessment of the proposal, highlighting its potential and limitations.
The briefing identifies several positive aspects, including the attempt to reduce fragmentation in the European financial architecture by introducing a single rulebook, greater standardisation of instruments, strengthening InvestEU, and closer coordination with Horizon Europe. However, the briefing also raises several critical issues, including the absence of a clear prioritisation framework, the risk of resource dispersion, insufficient financial leverage, undefined coordination with other EU instruments, and a governance structure deemed weak in terms of transparency, safeguards, and accountability.
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