De Wever is pushing a pro-industry agenda ahead of an informal gathering of European leaders next Thursday — taking place in a castle on the Belgian countryside — to discuss restoring Europe’s waning competitiveness, where they will be joined by former Italian Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta.
Belgium, like many other European countries, is struggling to keep its industrial base afloat, including the petrochemical industry around the port of Antwerp, which is De Wever’s political power base.
In his book, De Wever argues that Europe’s waning competitiveness is partly attributable to its fragmented capital markets. European entrepreneurs need to turn to the U.S. when they need capital to scale.
“The result is that Europe hasn’t produced one single new company with a market value that exceeds €100 billion,” he writes, while the U.S. has produced seven companies worth $1 trillion: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla and Nvidia. He added that Dutch chip toolmaker ASML could be seen as the one exception.
De Wever pushed for the EU to create a “full-fledged capital markets union” and tackle hurdles in its internal market.
The EU made headlines across the world in 2024, when it adopted its Artificial Intelligence Act aimed at managing the risks of the nascent technology. Since adopting the law, the tone has shifted dramatically, with industry voices arguing the law is preventing Europe from keeping pace in the global race to dominate AI.
The European Commission in November proposed watering down the AI Act and reforming its privacy rules to benefit the technology. Those proposals would roll back some provisions and delay a key part of the rules for high-risk AI systems.