Fourth meeting of the informal working group on European competitiveness
NULLPEN · Source published 10/6/2026, 11:40:56 AM UTCIn view of the European Council meeting to be held on 15 and 16 October, President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni, German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever today hosted another video conference meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the informal working group on European competitiveness. In addition to Italy, Germany and Belgium, the video conference was attended by the European Commission, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. The discussion focused on three issues: energy costs, simplification of EU rules and international trade relations . President Meloni stressed that the next European Council meeting needs to provide clear and concrete policy guidelines, with particular regard to reducing energy costs and safeguarding the competitiveness of European industry. In this context, she highlighted the joint initiative with the Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, which sets out proposals to reduce costs li…
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