The Commission will allocate €1.3 billion for the deployment of critical technologies that are strategically important for the future of Europe and the continent’s tech sovereignty through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) work programme for 2025 to 2027 adopted today.
The work programme focuses on the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its uptake by businesses and public administration, cloud and data, cyber resilience and digital skills.
More specifically, key priorities under the DIGITAL work programme include:

Improving the availability and accessibility of generative AI applications, including in the health and care sectors. Available funding will go towards testing immersive environments, known as ‘virtual worlds’, implementing the AI Act and deploying energy efficient common data spaces. These measures are key to the implementation of the AI Factories initiative to develop generative AI models for businesses and the public sector.
Supporting  the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). This is a network of hubs that provides companies and the public sector with access to technical expertise and testing of technologies, as well as with advice, training and skills to adopt the latest technologies. It will promote the widespread take-up of AI in private and public organisations across Europe.
Building-up the award-winning Destination Earth initiative that is working to build a digital model of Earth to support climate adaptation and disaster risk management. Funding will build a more powerful model that more researchers can access.

Boosting cyber resilience. Cybersecurity solutions such as the EU Cybersecurity Reserve will improve the resilience and security of critical infrastructures including hospitals and submarine cables.
Developing EU education and training institutions’ capacity in digital skills so they may nurture and attract talent while boosting advanced skills in the European workforce.
Facilitating the new EU Digital Identity Wallet architecture and the European Trust Infrastructure, as well as promoting its adoption in Member States.
Stimulating the transformation of the public sector by developing efficient, high-quality, interoperable digital public services.

Innovation will also be accelerated by the new Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) which awards the STEP Seal quality label to promising projects to improve their opportunity to access public and private funding.
Next Steps
The upcoming DIGITAL calls are expected to be released in April 2025, with additional calls published through the rest of the year. The EU Funding & Tenders Portal can be consulted for information on open calls.
Calls are open to businesses, public administrations, and other entities from EU Member States, EFTA/EEA countries, and countries associated to DIGITAL.
Background
DIGITAL is the first funding programme of the EU entirely focused on bringing digital technology to businesses and citizens. With a budget of €8.1 billion under the present Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, it has been shaping the digital transformation of Europe’s society and economy.
Focussing specifically on deployment, DIGITAL complements investments under other EU programmes, such as Horizon Europe, EU4Health, InvestEU, the Connecting Europe Facility as well as investments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
For more information, please contact:

Thomas Regnier, Spokesperson, EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Patricia Poropat, Press Officer, EUROPEAN COMMISSION

 
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Blog post by Antonin Bergeaud, Guzmán González-Torres Fernández, Vincent Labhard and Richard Sellner
We constantly hear of exciting new ways AI tools can help to tackle economic problems and the productivity gains they bring. However, benefits can only materialize when firms actually use AI.

This post is part of a miniseries related to the ECB conference “The Transformative Power of AI”, on 1-2 April 2025, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Learn more here.
Though economists have attempted to quantify the potential economy-wide productivity gains that AI (artificial intelligence) could bring, there is no consensus on the impact of this technology. A central precondition for AI to thrive, is the adoption by firms. And this depends, among other things, on firms’ technological readiness, investment capacity, and regulation.
In this blog post, we first present new insights from the ECB’s corporate telephone survey (CTS) on AI adoption by firms. We then provide an overview of the multitude of other factors that will influence the impact of AI on productivity growth. Understanding these dynamics is essential for policymakers and business leaders to harness AI’s potential for sustained economic growth.
AI adoption among leading European firms
To get an idea of the pace at which AI is being adopted by European firms, the June 2024 edition of the ECB’s Corporate Telephone Survey (CTS)[1], included a module dedicated to this topic. The results for the firms participating in the survey suggest two important trends: Firstly, European firms are indeed steadily adopting AI for a variety of reasons. Secondly, however, the share of employees using AI regularly at the workplace is still small.
More specifically, the survey results show widespread yet moderate uptake so far among firms (see Chart 1). About 75% of the firms surveyed- amongst the largest in the euro area- claim to already be using AI in their daily business operations, although most of them report that less than 25% of their employees do so. The most common applications of AI relate to improving access to information or creating customised web content. Most firms state that they do not intend to reduce their headcount through the adoption of AI.
Although as shown above the use of AI tools might be relatively common among large euro area firms, a recent survey of Eurostat highlights the divide in adoption rates between large and small firms. According to this survey less than 12% of small enterprises in the EU use at least one AI technology, while more than 40% of large firms do so.[2]

Chart 1
Intensity and intents of use of AI

Chart A: Intensity of AI use
Chart B: Intention behind AI use

share of employees

percentage of respondents

Source: ECB Corporate Telephone Survey.
Note: Respondents were given the chance to provide an answer for every use listed in Chart B.

Estimating the macroeconomic productivity gains of AI adoption
Adoption is the essential precondition for AI to make an impact. However, several other factors will determine how these technologies diffuse and affect productivity growth.
First, current estimations are based on today’s state of the art in AI, assuming that AI can only be applied to a limited set of tasks in the economy. A game changer would be if AI ends up able to tackle any task, becoming so-called “artificial general intelligence”. This could have the potential to push the innovation frontier and replace tasks in a larger number of occupations. Consequently, productivity gains could multiply. Second, for firms to use AI they may need to invest in capital, notably human skills and intangible assets, which eventually would support productivity. Moreover, gains may be amplified if we accounted for productivity spillovers across sectors.[3]
How strongly these factors might affect the economy is hard to estimate. One helpful method to quantify macroeconomic productivity gains looks at the share of tasks exposed to AI and the potential gains for each task. The resulting estimates vary considerably, ranging from 0.07 percentage points (pp) to 1.5 pp per year,[4] as no consensus exists about the tasks that can be automated, to what extent they can be automated, or about the gains AI would bring to each of them.
A set of estimates in the middle of the range is shown in the blue bars in Chart 2, suggesting a productivity increase of around 0.35 pp per year on average for the euro area, 3.5 pp over ten years for the whole economy due to AI.[5] But, again, the potential gains depend on the AI adoption by firms. We use two indicators summarising how straightforward it may be for a given country to adopt AI In order to illustrate how different adoption rates across firms might interact with the general applicability of AI to different tasks in the economy,.
The dots in Chart 2 show how the original estimates for productivity gains would change if the conditions for AI adoption were less favourable as in the optimal scenario (blue bar). To that end we adjusted the estimates for productivity gains based on two indicators: First, the IMF’s preparedness index, which measures how prepared countries are for AI in terms e.g., of digital infrastructure, regulation and labour force (yellow dots). And second, the UN productive capacities index which includes 42 economic characteristics and their role for productivity, such as transport, education or quality of institutions (red dots). We also calculate how the factors captured by both indices together might reduce expected productivity gains. For the euro area, this would reduce the productivity gains to around 3.1 pp over 10 years if either one is considered, and 2.9 pp if both are (green dots).

Chart 2
Estimated productivity gains from AI

How much do the gains depend on “AI readiness” and “productive capacity”?
percentage points

Source: Authors’ calculations based on Bergeaud (2024) https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/sintra/ecb.forumcentbankpub2024_Bergeaud_paper.de.pdf), IMF (AI preparedness, https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/AIPI) and UNCTAD (productive capacity, https://unctad.org/topic/least-developed-countries/productive-capacities-index).
Notes: The bars show the estimated productivity gains over a period of 10 years in percentage points; the dots show the gains that remain when taking into account for AI preparedness, productive capacity, or both.

The challenge ahead
European firms are slowly adopting AI technologies. However, the expected productivity gains remain uncertain. Whether, and to which extent, the advent of AI tools will boost firms’ output depends on several factors: the future development of the technology, its wide use across workers and tasks,[6] and the capacity of firms to benefit from the new technologies. At the moment, the conditions seem less than ideal in some EU countries. Policy makers may have two avenues to help firms reap the benefits of these new technologies. First, facilitating the availability of the necessary skills and tools for the deployment of AI. Second, implementing structural reforms that foster dynamic business environments and the construction of digital infrastructures more generally.
The views expressed in each blog entry are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem.
Check out The ECB Blog and subscribe for future posts.
For topics relating to banking supervision, why not have a look at The Supervision Blog?

The Corporate Telephone Survey is a regular firm survey conducted by the ECB. See “The ECB’s dialogue with non-financial companies”, Economic Bulletin, Issue 1, ECB, 2021.
See Eurostat (January 2025): “Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises”.
See Filippucci, F., Gal, P. and Schief, M. (2024), ‘Miracle or Myth? Assessing the Macroeconomic Productivity Gains From Artificial Intelligence’, OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers no. 29.
See Acemoglu, D. (2025), ‘The Simple Macroeconomics of AI’, Economic Policy, vol. 40, no.121, pp.13-58 and Briggs, J. and Kodnani, D. (2023) ‘The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth’, Goldman Sachs Global Economics Analyst.
This set of estimates is based on Bergeaud, ‘The Past, Present and Future of European Productivity’, paper presented at the 2024 ECB Forum on Central Banking.
See this earlier post on The ECB Blog.

 
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Trade Matters
Commissioner Šefčovič held substantive talks with Secretary of Commerce Lutnick, Ambassador Greer & Director Hassett. Our priority is a fair, balanced deal instead of unjustified tariffs.
Digital Policy
At the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Commissioner Michael McGrath addressed EU-U.S. economic relations and digital collaboration.
100 Days Defense & Competitiveness
“Our sense of urgency and common direction are clear. We are following up on our commitment to boost defense investment, with concrete steps.”

— European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
EU on the Hill
Agricultural trade is just one facet of the $4.5 billion in EU-U.S. goods and services traded daily. EU Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė met U.S. Senator from Arkansas John Boozman and U.S. Representative from Texas Nate Moran.
European Defense Investments 

“450 million EU citizens should not have to depend on 340 million Americans to defend ourselves against 140 million Russians who can’t defeat 38 million Ukrainians. It’s time for us to take responsibility for the defense of Europe.”
— European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius
On Air
EU Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė joined Newsmax for a discussion on trade relations and the EU’s defense capabilities.
 
Compliments of the EU External Action Service
 The post Delegation of the EU to the US | Top 10: Fair Trade Matters first appeared on European American Chamber of Commerce New York [EACCNY] | Your Partner for Transatlantic Business Resources.

The European Commission has tightened the steel safeguard measure to shield the EU steel industry from surging imports, delivering on the EU’s Steel and Metals Action Plan. The Commission has reduced the liberalisation rate from 1% to 0.1%, limiting the amount of steel that can be imported into the EU tariff-free. Additionally, countries will no longer be able to use the entire volumes of unused quotas of other countries, including those of Russia and Belarus. The “carry-over” mechanism, which allowed countries to roll over unused quotas to the next quarter, has also been eliminated for categories with high import pressure and low consumption. The tightened measure will create breathing space for EU steel producers to increase their production and thus regain lost market share. It also aims to increase employment and investment in green steel production.
These changes come as the EU steel industry faces intense pressure from global overcapacity, rising exports from China, and increasing trade barriers in key markets like the US. The Commission’s decision follows a review investigation requested by 13 EU Member States, which found that the industry’s situation was worsening due to increased import pressures and decreasing demand.
Most adjustments will enter into force on 1 April 2025, with two entering into force on 1 July 2025 (the slower pace of liberalisation and the removal of the carry-over of unused volumes in certain categories). The amendment of the safeguard does not impact its duration – it will legally lapse on 30 June 2026.
The Commission first introduced the steel safeguard measure in 2019 to prevent economic damage to EU steel producers from trade diversion and rising imports. It has undertaken numerous reviews since, including functioning reviews to adapt the measure to market developments (such as the review preceding the current adjustment) and prolongation reviews. The latest prolongation review extended the application of the measure until the end of June 2026.
 
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The Council adopted today a regulation on financial benchmarks with the aim of reducing red tape for EU companies, particularly SMEs.
Benchmarks are widely used by companies and investors in the EU as references in their financial instruments or contracts.
This legislation amends a regulation from 2016 regarding the scope of the rules for benchmarks, the use of benchmarks provided by administrators located in third countries, and certain reporting requirements.
Main elements of the amended benchmarks regulation

Reduced regulatory burden on administrators of benchmarks defined as non-significant in the EU by removing them from the scope of the legislation.
Only critical or significant benchmarks remain within the scope of the new regulation.
Administrators outside the scope of the rules will be able to request the voluntary application of the rules (opt-in), under certain conditions.
Extended competence for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Administrators of EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks must be registered, authorized, recognised, or endorsed to ensure regulatory oversight and prevent misleading ESG claims.
A specific exemption regime for spot foreign exchange benchmarks.

 
Next steps
The final text will be published in the Official Journal of the EU, will enter into force, and apply from 1 January 2026.
 
Background
The Commission presented this proposal in 2023 as part of a package of measures to rationalise financial reporting requirements.
In its Communication ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’, the Commission stressed the importance of a regulatory system that ensures objectives are met at minimum cost. It has therefore committed to a renewed effort to simplify and rationalise reporting requirements, with the ultimate aim of reducing administrative burdens by 25%, without undermining the related policy objectives.
 
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AI adoption requires enormous amounts of electricity. And so does greening the economy. Are the digital and green transitions clashing or can they be successfully achieved together? The ECB Blog takes a closer look.

This post is part of a miniseries related to the ECB conference “The Transformative Power of AI”, on 1-2 April 2025, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Learn more here.
Two of the biggest economic challenges Europe faces are the digital and the green transitions. The former seeks to harness the productive possibilities of new technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI). The latter aims to transition away from carbon usage and green the economy. At a time when electricity generation needs to move away from fossil fuel, both transitions need vast amounts of electricity, to drive data centres, electric vehicles, and heat pumps. These competing demands appear to put the twin transitions onto a collision course. This post argues that the interaction between AI and the green transition goes much deeper than electricity demand. AI can in fact help develop technologies that substantially benefit the green transition. Addressing certain structural factors will benefit both societal goals.
An enormous appetite for energy
The data centres that underpin AI are voracious guzzlers of electricity. Research by Eurosystem staff demonstrates just by how much electricity demand could increase as AI adoption spreads. Take an everyday example: a standard Google search consumes around 0.3Wh of electricity. With that, one could power a standard 60W light bulb for 20 seconds. Once AI comes into play, that picture changes dramatically. A ChatGPT request needs around ten times the electricity to run. An AI-augmented Google search even requires 7-9Wh per request.[1] That is around 300 times the electricity demand, and the power needed to keep the same light bulb on for up to 9 minutes.
Electricity demand driven by the digital transition is already substantial in some Member States. For instance, data centres accounted for around 21% of the total electricity used in Ireland in 2023, more than all urban households combined.
And while the overall electricity demand is already high, data centres are expected to be a substantial driver of even higher EU electricity demand in the coming years (Chart 1). Yet, they are hardly the only. Their contribution is still less than that of the projected 9 million extra battery electric vehicles and 11 million new heat pumps over the same period. This growing demand for electricity makes it harder to decarbonise energy. And consequently, meeting the EU targets for greening electricity requires massive new renewables capacity. The greater the increase in demand, the greater still the increase in renewables needed.

Chart 1
Data centres and green transition to drive rebound in EU electricity demand

Estimated drivers of changes in EU electricity demand
TWh

Source: International Energy Agency.

Even without the increased demands of AI and green investments, meeting those renewable energy targets already looks tough. Expanding the supply of renewable energy is hampered by the sluggish pace of authorisations, which can take years, and long waits for connections to the energy grid. The International Energy Agency estimates that constructing and connecting all the wind and solar projects that have already been granted grid clearance would increase the capacity already in place in Italy at the end of 2022 by 45%, and even triple the equivalent capacity in Spain.
Given these competing demands, it would seem that the development of AI is at loggerheads with the goals of the green transition.
Technological transformation of the economy
It’s worth remembering, however, that at their core the widespread adoption of AI and the green transition involve the same thing: a technological transformation of the economy and society. Combating climate change requires the creation of new, carbon-free technologies and their diffusion throughout the economy. And this is a process that is already benefitting from the support of artificial intelligence. For the future, AI holds even greater potential to improve resource and energy efficiency.
One example is the AI-supported efficiency gains in the energy sector. AI has accelerated the modelling for new wind power sites by factor of up to 4,000. Rather than months, the time taken to calculate the optimal placement for new wind turbines can now be measured in minutes. Furthermore, AI can help with grid maintenance and predicting renewables supply and overall electricity demand, supporting the balancing of the grid. AI is also helping data centres themselves become more efficient. For example, Google used DeepMind to reduce the energy needed to cool its data centres by 40%. AI can do the same for the energy usage of other buildings, which contribute a substantial share of carbon emissions in Europe. One trial in Sweden even managed to reduce the energy used by two large apartment buildings by 20%.
Next to reducing energy usage, battery technology is key for a successful green transition. AI has the potential to help find more efficient materials for production, improve battery maintenance for longer battery life, and assess operational risk in real time. In the longer-term, AI-powered self-driving cars could facilitate car sharing, reducing the total number of cars needed (since they mostly stand idle), and in turn reducing the environmental burden of car production.
Overcoming common challenges
The examples above illustrate why AI and the green transition in fact don’t have to be competitors. Rather, they can be companions that can help and feed off each other. Indeed, the main clash – the energy demand of data centres – isn’t intrinsic. Competitive sources of (nearly) carbon-free electricity generation already exist. Moreover, the main roadblock to both building new data centres and greening electricity generation is the problems surrounding authorisations and grid connections. Addressing these bottlenecks is vital if Europe wants to achieve the productivity gains offered by AI and avoid the productivity losses of further climate change.
There are further common challenges both AI adoption and the green transition face, particularly in Europe. Both transitions require substantial investment. In this regard, Europe is falling behind, particularly on spending on research and development. The green transition will require from 2.7% to 3.7% of EU GDP in additional investment every year until 2030. The European Investment Bank has identified an AI investment gap of around 5-10 billion euro per year. Around 40% of small and medium-sized companies cite a lack of investor willingness to finance green investment as a very significant obstacle. Meanwhile, young European firms receive only a quarter of the scale-up finance enjoyed by US firms.
Recent ECB work has highlighted the need for strong institutions and governance to speed up the adoption of digital and green technologies. There is little incentive for firms to innovate if barriers to market entry and competition prevent them from reaping the benefits. Inefficient labour and product markets might make the needed reallocation of inputs across firms and sectors more difficult. Lack of skilled labour may also prove to be a hindrance, with the need to boost education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Lifelong training and education are also necessary as AI and the green transition result in shifts in employment.
In light of these challenges, national environmental and AI policies would benefit from more concerted integration to harness the synergies between these twin transitions. There is a role, too, for policies and funding at European level, particularly where the environmental benefits of AI may be widespread but have fewer commercial applications. Taken together, these can help ensure that the common challenges to both transitions can be overcome and to ensure that – rather than clash – both are successfully delivered.
The views expressed in each blog entry are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem.
Check out The ECB Blog and subscribe for future posts.
For topics relating to banking supervision, why not have a look at The Supervision Blog?

De Vries, A. (2023), “The growing energy footprint of artificial intelligence”, Joule, Vol. 7, no 10, pp 2191-2194.

 
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EU leaders discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, competitiveness, European defence, the next MFF, migration, oceans, multilateralism and the Western Balkans.
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, was invited to a working lunch.
A Euro Summit in inclusive format was held on the margins of the meeting.

European Council conclusions, 20 March 2025
Remarks by President António Costa at the press conference following the European Council meeting of 20 March 2025
Euro Summit, 20 March 2025

The text on Ukraine was firmly supported by 26 heads of state or government.

Ukraine

Three years into Russia’s war, the EU remains steadfast in its solidarity with and support for Ukraine. To date, the EU has provided €139.2 billion to Ukraine, including €49.3 billion in military support.
The EU is committed to continuing to support Ukraine and its people, in coordination with like-minded partners and allies.

Russia’s war against Ukraine (background information)

A comprehensive, just and lasting peace
The EU is committed to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, based on the UN Charter and international law. In this respect, EU leaders reiterated the principles they set out for a peace negotiation at the special European Council on 6 March.
They also welcomed the joint statement by Ukraine and the US, including the proposal for a ceasefire agreement, humanitarian efforts and the resumption of US intelligence sharing and security assistance.
They called on Russia to show real political will to end the war and called for:

the exchange of prisoners of war
the release of civilians
the return of all Ukrainian children and other civilians unlawfully deported and transferred to Russia and Belarus
Special European Council, 6 March 2025
Ukraine: Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union following the Ukraine-U.S. meeting in Saudi Arabia (press release, 11 March 2025)

Russia’s immobilised assets
The EU remains ready to step up pressure on Russia, including by applying new sanctions and by strengthening the enforcement of existing sanctions.
Subject to EU law, Russia’s assets should remain immobilised until Russia ceases its war and compensates Ukraine for the damages caused by the war.

How Russian immobilised assets are used (background information)

EU solidarity with Ukraine

Security guarantees

The EU maintains its peace through strength approach, which requires Ukraine to be in the strongest possible position. Ukraine’s own military and defence capabilities are an essential component of this.
To deter future Russian aggression, Ukraine also needs to have robust and credible security guarantees. To this end, EU leaders welcomed the efforts that have begun to be made in this regard together with like-minded and NATO partners and expressed their readiness to contribute, particularly by supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself effectively.
They also called on member states to urgently step up efforts to address Ukraine’s pressing military and defence needs.
Financial support
The EU will continue to provide Ukraine with regular and predictable financial support. To this end, EU leaders called on:

the Commission to swiftly frontload financing under the Ukraine Facility and the G7 extraordinary revenue acceleration loan
the Commission and member states to use all options under the Ukraine Facility to increase support
The Ukraine Facility (background information)

EU membership
EU leaders stressed that the EU will intensify support for Ukraine’s reform efforts to become a member state. In this regard, they highlighted the importance of progress in accession negotiations in line with the merit-based approach and of opening clusters once the conditions are met, starting with the fundamentals as soon as possible.

Ukraine: enlargement (background information)

EU military support for Ukraine

Competitiveness

Faced with multiple complex challenges, the EU needs to strengthen its competitiveness and enhance Europe’s open strategic autonomy and resilience in order to stay prosperous and maintain its global leadership.
In this context, the leaders underlined that the need to invest in defence is closely interlinked with the EU’s competitiveness.

A more competitive Union will be a stronger Union, better able to protect its citizens, its values and its interests on the global stage while sustaining its prosperity and its social model.

European Council conclusions, 20 March 2025

They also stressed that 2025 should mark a step change to boost competitiveness, strengthen the single market, promote quality jobs and ensure successful green and digital transitions, in line with the agreed climate objectives.
In this regard, they agreed to prioritise simplification, lowering energy prices and mobilising private savings in order to unlock necessary investments. They also welcomed the competitiveness compass, the clean industrial act and the omnibus simplification packages presented by the Commission.

Competitiveness compass (background information)

Simplification and reducing administrative burdens
Simplification must be implemented at all levels to provide a clear and innovation-friendly regulatory framework, without undermining predictability, policy goals or the single market.
In this regard, the leaders called on the Commission, the Council and the Parliament to:

work towards achieving the target of reducing administrative burdens by at least 25% and 35% for small- and medium-sized businesses
advance work on the simplification packages presented on 26 February 2025
adopt the stop-the-clock mechanism on sustainability reporting and due diligence by June 2025
adhere to better regulation principles throughout the legislative process

They also called on the Commission to present further simplification packages, including on industrial decarbonisation and on security and defence, and to continue reviewing the body of EU law to identify ways in order to simplify and consolidate existing laws.

Commission simplifies rules on sustainability and EU investments, delivering over €6 billion in administrative relief (European Commission, 26 February 2025) 

Competitiveness and industry

Energy

The EU is committed to achieving European sovereignty and climate neutrality by 2050, while remaining competitive globally. In this context, the leaders called for efforts to be urgently stepped up to:

protect citizens and businesses from high energy costs
secure the supply of affordable and clean energy
build a genuine energy union before 2030, including electrification through net-zero and low-carbon solutions
ensure cross-border long-term investment planning to fully integrate and interconnect the EU energy market
intensify additional energy supplies to Europe

They also welcomed the Commission’s action plan for affordable energy and urged all relevant stakeholders to start delivering on the actions therein in 2025.

Energy prices and security of supply (background information)
Affordable energy action plan (European Commission) 

Energy

Savings and investments union

To make the EU more competitive and more autonomous, it is paramount to create truly integrated and deeper European capital markets by achieving the capital markets union and completing the banking union.

A genuine savings and investment union will help channel hundreds of billions of euros of additional investment to the European economy every year.

European Council conclusions, 20 March 2025
In this context, and in light of the Commission communication on the savings and investment union strategy, the leaders stressed the need to take decisive steps in 2025 and 2026 and called on:

the Council and the European Parliament to quickly agree on all pending proposals from the 2020 action plan on the capital markets union, including insolvency
the Commission and the Council to advance work towards greater retail participation in capital markets by making investment and saving possibilities available, including at EU level
the Commission to swiftly propose improvements to the existing pan-European personal pension product

the Commission to propose improvements to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem and to propose an optional 28th company law regime to allow innovative companies to scale up
the Commission to propose a revised securitisation framework

In terms of convergence and efficiency, the leaders called on the Commission and the relevant authorities to ensure convergent supervisory practices and to complete the assessment of the conditions enabling the European supervisory authorities to supervise the most systemic relevant cross-border market actors and put forward a proposal in that respect.
The leaders also stressed the importance of mobilising private financing for the European defence industry, and invited the Commission to consider further leveraging EU programmes such as InvestEU.

Banking union (background information)
Retail investment strategy (background information)
European defence industry (background information)
Communication on the savings and investments union strategy (European Commission) 

Capital markets union explained

Single market

To achieve a deeper single market, EU leaders called for specific work strands to be pursued without delay to secure Europe’s industrial innovation, renewal and decarbonisation.
This includes growth in key technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, semiconductors, 5G/6G and other critical technologies, while also paying attention to traditional industries in transition such as the automotive, shipping, aviation and energy-intensive industries.
In this context, the leaders called on the Commission to put forward relevant proposals, including additional flexibilities under the regulation setting CO2 emission performance for cars and vans, as well as the review foreseen in that regulation.
They also called for further efforts to enhance the recognition and retention of skills across the EU.

Artificial intelligence (background information)

The EU single market: benefits, facts and figures

European defence and security

The EU is speeding up efforts to strengthen its defence readiness to deal with immediate and future challenges.
Building on the special European Council on 6 March and the Commission’s white paper on the future of defence, leaders called for an acceleration of all work strands to ramp up Europe’s defence readiness within the next five years.
They also called for the implementation of the actions identified in the European Council conclusions of 6 March 2025 in the field of capabilities to be initiated as a matter of urgency and for continued work on the relevant financing options.
In this regard they also pointed out that a stronger and more capable EU would make a positive contribution to global and transatlantic security and would complement NATO, which remains the foundation of the collective defence of those EU countries that are members.

Security and defence (background information)
EU-NATO cooperation (background information)
Special European Council, 6 March 2025
White paper on the future of European defence (European Commission) 

EU defence in numbers

MFF 2028-2034

EU leaders held a first exchange of views on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), the EU’s long-term budget, and new own resources, a form of revenue that helps finance the EU’s expenditure.

Long-term budget explained (background information)

Financing the EU budget

Migration

Following up on past conclusions, the leaders discussed progress and encouraged further work on:

the external dimension of migration, notably through comprehensive partnerships
the implementation of adopted EU laws
the prevention and countering of irregular migration, including through new ways in line with international law
efforts related to returns
safe third countries and countries of origin
the fight against instrumentalisation, human trafficking and smuggling
visa alignment by neighbouring countries
safe and legal pathways in line with national competencies

In this context, they called on the Council and the European Parliament to advance on files with a migration dimension, especially the recent Commission proposal on returns.

Proposal to establish a common European system for returns (Eur-lex) 

Migration and asylum

Oceans
In view of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, EU leaders highlighted the important role of oceans and the blue economy in strengthening the EU’s competitiveness, resilience, maritime security and environmental sustainability and protection.
In this regard, the leaders:

welcomed the Commission’s intention to propose a European ocean pact to foster healthy oceans and a sustainable and competitive blue economy
called for increased global action and ambition, including accelerated ratification of the UN agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ agreement)
took stock of the preparations for the UN ocean conference
Maritime security (background information)

Multilateralism

The EU has always upheld and will continue to uphold the UN charter and the rules and principles it enshrines, in particular those of sovereignty and territorial integrity, political independence and self-determination. In this context, EU leaders:

pledged that the EU will remain a predictable and credible partner
resolved to drive forward the ‘UN80 initiative’ internal reform process to ensure that the UN remains effective, cost-efficient and responsive
expressed their readiness to cooperate with all stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the pact for the future
stressed the importance of the fourth international conference on financing for development

EU cooperation with the United Nations

Western Balkans
EU leaders addressed the situation in the Western Balkans and invited the Council to address the matter in April 2025.

Western Balkans (background information)

 
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The European Commission has adopted its strategy for the savings and investments union (SIU), a key initiative to improve the way the EU financial system channels savings to productive investments. It seeks to offer EU citizens broader access to capital markets and better financing options for companies. This can foster citizens’ wealth, while boosting EU economic growth and competitiveness.
The savings and investments union is a horizontal enabler that will create a financing ecosystem to benefit investments in the EU’s strategic objectives. As highlighted in the competitiveness compass, Europe’s capacity to address current challenges – such as climate change, rapid technological shifts and new geopolitical dynamics – demands significant investments, which the Draghi report estimates at an additional €750‑800 billion per year by 2030, and which is further impacted by increased defence needs. Much of these additional investment needs relate to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and innovative companies, which cannot rely solely on bank financing. By developing integrated capital markets – alongside an integrated banking system – the savings and investments union can effectively connect savings and investment needs.
 
Why a Savings and Investments Union?
The European Union has the means to secure its own economic future and has an enormous potential to better serve its citizens and businesses. The EU benefits from a talented workforce, many innovative and successful companies, a large pool of savings and a predictable and sound legal environment, based on common principles and the rule of law. Europe’s stock exchanges count together for trillions of market capitalisation, it is home to UCITS, the globally most successful brand of investment funds, and has become the global leader for sustainable finance issuances with more issuances than the Americas and Asia & Pacific regions together. The business case for Europe is there – the Commission’s Competitiveness Compass defines the areas that are fundamental for growth and competitiveness, through flagship measures under the three transformational imperatives: closing the innovation gap, a joint roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness and reducing excessive dependencies and increasing security. Financial markets contribute to a thriving economy that creates better jobs with higher salaries for today’s workers and future generations and offers adequate retirement income in light of demographic developments. The EU’s resilient and well-regulated financial system has significant untapped potential to channel more savings to productive investment. EU citizens stand to benefit from well-developed, integrated and efficient EU financial markets that can offer them access to more wealth creation opportunities.
The development of a Savings and Investments Union is a crucial priority as it aims to improve the way the EU financial system channels savings to productive investment, creating more and a wider range of financial opportunities for people and businesses, notably sustainable businesses. The EU offers attractive investment opportunities, including to investors from third countries, but it is important to render it an even more attractive investment destination by enhancing its overall growth potential. Such attractiveness should be secured by means of strong aggregate demand, support to private investment, access to cleaner and more affordable energy, raw materials and advanced technologies, as well as a simpler business environment in a single market with fewer barriers.
The rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape, the challenges of climate change and technological developments have profound implications for the future of the EU and reviving the economy must be a key focus of the EU’s response. Major policy challenges lie ahead, in the fields of security and defence, sustainable prosperity and economic competitiveness, and also democracy and social fairness, as the EU must urgently prepare to play a very different role on the global stage. The EU’s economy will be instrumental in this respect, and it is now vital to take a more ambitious approach to policy coordination among Member States, reflecting the imperative to act collectively to unlock significant untapped potential for growth, employment and wealth creation.
At the same time, persistent fragmentation limits the benefits to be gained from the EU’s single market. For financial services alone, the IMF estimates that internal barriers to the single market are equivalent to a tariff of over 100 per cent, implying a huge cost to the EU economy. Urgent action is required to address these barriers if the EU’s prosperity and economic and geopolitical strength are to be secured. Clearly, the EU financial markets and wider economy can be much more than the sum of its national parts and, as argued in the Draghi Report, a vibrant and resilient economy is a pre-condition for the EU to manage its own destiny. The EU’s international partners are already adapting to the new geo-economic realities, and so the EU must also respond decisively.
Read more here.

Frequently Asked Questions
Factsheet: The savings and investments union – Connecting savings and productive investments

 
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Washington, DC: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the seventh edition of the Integrated Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM7, the Manual) (https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Data/Statistics/BPM6/draft-bpm7-wcv.ashx). This new edition provides updated global standards for compiling external sector statistics, including balance of payments and integrated international investment position. It highlights key changes in the global economy, such as the increasing economic interconnectedness, digitalization, and innovations in financial markets since the time of the last update of the manual in 2009.
The launch of BPM7 marks the culmination of several years of work by the IMF Statistics Department in consultation with the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (BOPCOM), with support from the global balance of payments (BOP) community of statisticians and users. BPM7 serves as a key framework for member countries, guiding the preparation of internationally comparable statistics and the production of high-quality data that reflects economic realities.
The release of BPM7 coincides with the release of the updated System of National Accounts, 2025 (2025 SNA) which was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission on March 5, 2025 (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna2025.asp). The Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014 and Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual and Compilation Guide 2016 will also be revised in the near term to maintain their harmonization with the two updated standards. This uniform set of statistical methodologies ensures policymakers can make well-informed, data-driven decisions.
Countries are encouraged to implement both standards by 2029–2030. The IMF will support implementation of the updated BPM7 by providing additional guidance and technical assistance.
The white cover (pre-edited) version of BPM7 is available electronically in English, with publication in other languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish—expected to be completed following the release of the final version.
 
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III. COMPETITIVENESS 
11. A more competitive Union will be a stronger Union, better able to protect its citizens, its values and its interests on the global stage while sustaining its prosperity and the European social model. The need to invest in our defence and our competitiveness are closely interlinked. The European Council underlines the urgent need to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, building on the Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal and on its conclusions of 6 March 2025 on European defence. In that regard, the European Council welcomes in particular the presentation of the Competitiveness Compass of 29 January 2025, the Clean Industrial Deal of 26 February 2025 and the Omnibus simplification agenda.
12. 2025 should therefore mark a step change in the EU’s action to boost competitiveness, strengthen the Single Market, promote quality jobs and ensure successful twin transitions, in line with the agreed climate objectives. In order to achieve these goals, and contribute to closing the innovation and productivity gap with the EU’s global competitors and within the EU, the European Council agrees to give priority to simplification and reducing regulatory and administrative burdens, lowering energy prices and mobilising private savings to unlock necessary investment in the EU economy.
Simplification and reducing administrative burdens
13. Following up on the Commission communication of 11 February 2025 on implementation and simplification, the European Council calls for efforts at all levels – EU, national and regional – to ensure a clear, simple, smart and innovation-friendly regulatory framework and to drastically reduce, as a matter of urgency, administrative, regulatory and reporting burdens for businesses and public administrations, without undermining predictability, policy goals, high standards and the integrity of the Single Market. In this context, the European Council:
a)    calls on the Commission and the co-legislators to work towards achieving the target of reducing the cost of all administrative burdens by at least 25 %, and by at least 35 % for SMEs;
b)    calls on the Commission to keep reviewing and stress-testing the EU acquis to identify ways to further simplify and consolidate existing legislation;
c)    urges the co-legislators to take work forward on the Omnibus simplification packages presented on 26 February 2025 as a matter of priority and with a high level of ambition, with a view to finalising them as soon as possible in 2025;
d)    calls on the co-legislators to adopt the proposal on the stop-the-clock mechanism on sustainability reporting and due diligence without delay and at the latest by June 2025;
e)    calls on the Commission to rapidly follow up with further simplification initiatives, including on industrial decarbonisation and on security and defence; and
f)    urges the Commission and the co-legislators to adhere to better regulation principles throughout the legislative process, thereby avoiding over-regulation and the introduction of administrative burdens, in particular on SMEs.
Energy
14. Recalling its commitment to pursue the dual objective of European energy sovereignty and climate neutrality by 2050, and in order for the Union to remain competitive globally, the European Council:
a)    calls for all efforts at EU and Member State level to be urgently stepped up, in order to better protect EU citizens and businesses from high energy costs, secure the supply of affordable and clean energy and build a genuine Energy Union before 2030, which will require ambitious electrification using all net-zero and low-carbon solutions, and investment in grids, storage and interconnections at national and EU level. Recalling the agreed energy targets, the European Council calls for cross-border and Union-wide long-term investment planning, with a view to fully integrating and interconnecting the EU energy market, contributing to the Union’s energy security, and infrastructure protection and resilience; and
b)    welcomes in that context the presentation of the Commission’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy on 26 February 2025, which outlines both structural and short-term measures, in particular for the most affected citizens and businesses, while preserving the integrity of the Single Market; and urges the Commission, the Council, the Member States and all other relevant stakeholders to start delivering on these actions in 2025. It calls for efforts to enable additional energy supplies to Europe to be intensified, notably to ensure security of supply for all Member States.
Savings and Investments Union
15. Having regard to the challenges to the EU’s competitiveness, it is of paramount importance to create truly integrated and deeper European capital markets, by achieving the Capital Markets Union as a matter of urgency and completing the Banking Union. A genuine Savings and Investments Union will help channel hundreds of billions of euro of additional investment to the European economy every year, helping to boost the EU’s competitiveness, strategic autonomy and economic security.
16. In this context, and in the light of the Commission communication of 19 March 2025, the European Council:
a)    expects the co-legislators to quickly agree on all pending proposals from the 2020 Action Plan on the Capital Markets Union, including on insolvency;
b)    to complement actions at EU level, stresses the need for national-level actions in order to increase the size and depth of capital markets that are accessible to all citizens and businesses across the Union;
c)    with a view to expanding opportunities for citizens, calls:
–    on the Commission, the Council and Member States to advance work towards greater retail participation in capital markets by making available European investment and savings possibilities, including enhanced possibilities for EU-wide savings and pension products, drawing on best practices, in time to allow decisive steps to be taken in 2025; and
–    on the Commission to swiftly propose, in 2025, improvements to the existing pan-European personal pension product;
d)    with a view to increasing private funding for businesses, calls on the Commission:
–    to put forward proposals to improve the private equity and venture capital ecosystem and, in line with the respective competences under the Treaties, to propose an optional 28th company law regime allowing innovative companies to scale up, in time to allow the co-legislators to take decisive steps by 2026;
–    to swiftly propose, in 2025, a revised securitisation framework, including targeted adjustments to the prudential framework, while maintaining financial stability; and
–    to keep under review the global level playing field in the banking and insurance sectors and take appropriate measures;
e)    with regard to improving the convergence and efficiency of the supervision of capital markets across the EU and reducing fragmentation, calls on the Commission, working where relevant with national and European competent authorities:
–    to ensure convergent supervisory practices. To that end, it is essential to foster homogenous implementation, interpretation, application and enforcement of EU law by national competent authorities;
–    to complete the assessment of and the work on the conditions for enabling the European Supervisory Authorities to effectively supervise the most systemic relevant cross-border capital and financial market actors, with the aim of strengthening financial integration and ensuring financial stability, simplifying processes and reducing compliance costs, taking into account the interests of all Member States, and, on the basis of that assessment, to put forward, as appropriate, a proposal on supervision;
–    to swiftly remove barriers to market-led consolidation of market infrastructure and to cross-border investment; and
–    to streamline existing rules and eliminate duplication, clarify regulatory provisions and reduce the cost of compliance and reporting;
f)    underlines the importance of mobilising private financing for the European defence industry and invites the Commission to consider making further use of EU programmes, such as building on the experience of the InvestEU Member State compartment, taking into account the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States.
Single Market, industry and skills
17. These competitiveness priorities will be supported by an ambitious new horizontal Single Market Strategy, to be presented in June 2025, which should aim at deepening the Single Market, by removing remaining barriers, in particular in the area of services and essential goods, addressing fragmentation, and improving the application and enforcement of Single Market rules.
18. The European Council also calls for the following specific work strands to be pursued without delay:
a)    building on the Clean Industrial Deal, the Automotive Action Plan of 5 March 2025 and the Steel and Metals Action Plan of 19 March 2025, which refer to technological neutrality, work must be stepped up to secure Europe’s industrial innovation, renewal and decarbonisation and to ensure the growth of tomorrow’s key technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, semiconductors, 5G/6G and other critical technologies, while paying particular attention to traditional industries in transition, notably the automotive, shipping, aviation and energy-intensive industries, and the need to secure a level playing field. To this end, it calls on the Commission to put forward, without delay, a targeted proposal for additional flexibilities to the 2025 milestone under the Regulation setting CO2 emissions performance standards for cars and vans, and to take forward the review foreseen in this Regulation; and
b)    following the Commission communication of 5 March 2025 on a Union of Skills, further efforts should be made to enhance the acquisition, recognition and retention of skills across the EU, from the building of basic skills to engaging in life-long learning, reskilling and upskilling, in line with the European Pillar of Social Rights and its Action Plan.
Other actions and way forward
19. The European Council addressed priorities for the 2025 European Semester and endorses the Recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area. The European Council also considered the employment and social situation in the European Union.
20. The European Council stresses that, going forward, all the abovementioned competitiveness priorities and actions should work together, in a mutually reinforcing manner, along with relevant EU instruments, to support research and innovation, investment, convergence and cohesion, connectivity, trade diversification and economic partnerships, growth and economic resilience in the European Union. The European Council remains seized of all these matters, and will assess progress on competitiveness and the green and digital transitions at its meeting in October 2025.
IV. EUROPEAN DEFENCE AND SECURITY
21. Following up on its conclusions of 6 March 2025 and in the light of the White Paper on the Future of European Defence of 19 March 2025, the European Council calls for an acceleration of work on all strands to decisively ramp up Europe’s defence readiness within the next five years. It invites the Council and the co-legislators to swiftly take work forward on the recent Commission proposals. The European Council calls for the implementation of the actions identified in its conclusions of 6 March 2025 in the field of capabilities to start as a matter of urgency and for continued work on the relevant financing options.
22. The European Council recalls that a stronger and more capable European Union in the field of security and defence will contribute positively to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to NATO, which remains, for those States that are members of it, the foundation of their collective defence.
23. The above is without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States, and takes into account the security and defence interests of all Member States, in accordance with the Treaties. The European Council invites the Commission and the High Representative to report regularly on progress made in the implementation of its conclusions on defence. It will revert to all strands of work on this issue at its next meeting.
VI. MIGRATION
25. The European Council took stock of progress in the implementation of its conclusions on migration, including in light of the recent letter from the President of the Commission. The European Council encourages further work in particular on: the external dimension, notably through comprehensive partnerships; the implementation of adopted EU legislation and the application of existing legislation; the prevention and countering of irregular migration, including through new ways in line with EU and international law; efforts to facilitate, increase and accelerate returns, using all relevant EU policies, instruments and tools; the concepts of safe third countries and safe countries of origin; the fight against instrumentalisation, human trafficking and smuggling; visa policy alignment by neighbouring countries; as well as safe and legal pathways in line with national competences. The European Council recalls the EU’s determination to strengthen security at its external borders and ensure their effective control, in line with EU and international law.
26. The European Council calls on the co-legislators to make progress, as a matter of priority, on files with a migration dimension. In particular, it invites the co-legislators to swiftly examine the recent Commission proposal on returns.
 
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