EU gets focussed on growth?
This week the EU made a series of announcements on its priorities, including a new European Competitiveness Compass. The document is intended to guide policy making priorities for the next 5 years. Amongst other things, it signals a shift towards enhanced digital reporting as a means to improve corporate transparency, investment efficiency, and economic resilience. The emphasis on reducing regulatory burdens through digitalisation aligns with the need for high-quality, structured data that enables investors, policymakers, and regulators to make informed decisions.
By prioritising simplification and standardisation, the EU appears to recognise that digital reporting—built on structured formats like XBRL, but the document goes further, referencing the importance of underlying standards such as those for e-invoicing —can increase trust in corporate performance, allowing businesses to demonstrate compliance, sustainability efforts, and financial stability more clearly. This transparency is particularly critical as the EU seeks to attract private capital, reducing its over reliance on bank financing and unlocking a deeper, more liquid capital market.
Structured, digital disclosures also improve cross-border investment opportunities, making it easier for investors to discover high-performing public and private companies across Member States. This is essential for financing Europe’s innovation, clean energy transition, and infrastructure upgrades. As the EU works towards a Savings and Investments Union, digital reporting could serve as a foundation for comparability and risk assessment, reinforcing the Single Market’s role as an engine of growth and economic security. Of course — exactly how this translates into action very much remains to be seen.
