*Whoever will be the next Commission president, competitiveness wins.*

Regardless of the final result of the negotiations to elect the next 
European Commission President, one word will be constantly repeated as a 
priority for EU policies, "Competitiveness".

The Competitiveness Pact is the final stage of the new EU economic 
governance architecture. In this report elaborated by Transnational 
Institute (TNI) and the Attac network we expose the myths and reality 
surrounding competitiveness -- and what it really means for the lives of 
Europeans.

_Check out the primer here:_ 
http://www.tni.org/briefing/unpacking-competitiveness

In recent years EU institutions have developed legislation at 
unprecedented speed. After the series of new treaties (the 'two-pack', 
'six-pack' and fiscal compact), the Competitiveness Pact is the next 
step in demanding member states follow a specific policy agenda. After 
years of austerity failing to deliver the expected results, 
'competitiveness' has become more important to the EU's strategy to 
overcome the European crisis.

Competitiveness is often mentioned by the European Commission and the 
media in a positive way, but without disclosing what hides behind the 
phrase. The structural adjustment programs implemented in the countries 
under the Troika regime, which prioritise 'fiscal consolidation and 
boosting competitiveness', have been used to push austerity policies, 
privatisations and the weakening of social and labour rights.

*This report answers 9 critical questions:*

1.*What do we understand by competitiveness?*

2.*What does competitiveness mean for the European institutions? *

3.***What is the Competitiveness Pact? ***

4.*Who or what are the interests behind the pact?*

5.*What are the main criticisms?*

6.*What is the current status of the pact?*

7.*What might break the Competitiveness Pact?*

8.*What would be the consequences of failure to enact the 
Competitiveness Pact?*

9.*What opportunities would the blocking of the Competitiveness Pact 
offer for European social movements? *

We hope this primer will help to open the debate on what are the effects 
of the oncoming EU policy proposals, who benefits, and the implications 
for the Europeans.

/Photo credit:European Parliament 
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/7979253698/>/Foter 
<http://foter.com/>/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 
2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) 
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/>/

-- 
Sol Trumbo Vila
Project Coordinator - EU Economic Governance
Transnational Institute (TNI)
soltrumbovila@...  - @Soltrumbo
+31 20 662 66 08

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