European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will present her plan to revive the European Union’s flagging economy to over 300 industry leaders in Antwerp on Feb. 26, multiple attendees confirmed to POLITICO.
The afternoon will feature several back-to-back sessions and occur shortly after von der Leyen officially releases the Clean Industrial Deal — her overarching plan to ensure EU industries remain competitive with the United States and China.
For von der Leyen, the event will offer a chance to convince prominent European executives that Brussels can address their complaints about excessive, overlapping and confusing regulations — not to mention the high energy prices manufacturers say are crippling their business models.
Von der Leyen is also under pressure to show that U.S. President Donald Trump’s regulatory bonfire abroad won’t leave EU countries fighting an unfair battle with transatlantic competitors.
The attendees will be from companies that signed the Antwerp Declaration — a cross-sector call launched in February 2024 pressing Brussels to make competitiveness central to its work after last June’s EU election.
As the brainchild behind the declaration, chemical lobbying group Cefic is organizing the gathering, which will start at 1 p.m. and likely last until 6 p.m.
Thus far, von der Leyen has heeded the industry appeal. Since launching her second five-year term last year, the EU’s top executive has doggedly injected the word “competitiveness” into nearly every speech. Her first major initiative was even dubbed the “Competitiveness Compass.”
Choosing to host CEOs right after launching her most highly anticipated proposal of the year will only strengthen that theme.
At the February event, von der Leyen will open with a keynote address before hosting a roundtable with some of the EU’s most prominent CEOs, said an attendee who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The rest of the attendees are expected to break into separate groups for other roundtables with multiple European commissioners in attendance.
The Commission declined to comment on the event.
“As per usual practice, we will announce the agenda of the President for that week only closer to the date,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Aude van den Hove, Eddy Wax, Victor Jack and Francesca Micheletti contributed reporting.
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