Expert: Finnish companies in danger of being left behind

Next week, the European Commission is expected to announce a proposal on what is known as a boost to European industry and investment of the industrial acceleration regulation.

The Finnish business community is concerned about the details of the future regulation.

“We have to be careful not to create unfair competition arrangements within Europe by connecting to this, for example, state aid competition, where Finland does very poorly in this economic situation,” said EK’s head of EU affairs Lotta Nymann-Lindegren In the live broadcast of Talousam.

EU countries are now looking for a balance in the details, which will not be easy. Export-driven Germany emphasizes cost competitiveness, while France looks more defensively at its home market.

New internal market barriers or bureaucracy should under no circumstances be built, says Nymann-Lindegren.

“If actions are taken, they should be very carefully defined and justified, and focus on particularly large projects.”

EK sees the risk that progressive Finnish companies will be left behind if the competitiveness of others is artificially boosted.

“Finland has a competitive advantage in that companies are already far ahead in clean technologies, we have very clean electricity production and we also have know-how and solutions that other European countries need. That’s why it’s important that the market remains open, that the really best products succeed.”

Opening up the internal market would have huge potential, says Nymann-Lindegren. According to the EU’s calculations, internal market barriers on the services side now correspond to tariffs of almost 100 percent, and on goods to more than 40 percent.

At the informal meeting of EU leaders held last week, it was stated that competitiveness does not necessarily improve with consensus, but with a smaller group of willing countries.

“It would really be time to speed this up, and in that sense, the breaks of a smaller group might act as such a wake-up call.”

Watch the interview and Talousaamu broadcast in its entirety from here.