The European Tech Alliance (EUTA) today published a video in which its President Adam Jay, CEO of Vinted Marketplace, and executives from EUTA members set out what Europe’s tech strategy needs to deliver for the companies that build and scale in Europe.
The video is published two years after the Draghi report on European competitiveness. Its diagnosis is no longer contested. What the companies founded in Europe are still waiting for is delivery. Only 8% of European SMEs trade across borders, and the report warned that the EU may be losing up to 10% of its GDP potential to regulatory complexity.
Their message is a call for clearer rules. Europe has the talent and it has the companies. What it does not have is a Single Market where a European company can grow across Europe as easily as it grows at home.
Five asks for Europe’s tech strategy
1. Empower European champions.
The EU needs a bold vision that enables European tech companies to test, deploy and scale ideas seamlessly across Europe and the world. A stronger Single Market for digital is not just desirable, it is essential.
2. Deliver a truly harmonised Single Market.
One rule, one interpretation, applied consistently across the Single Market. Up to 30% of EU tech companies’ resources go on compliance because rules are unclear or overlapping. Every euro spent untangling the regulatory maze is a euro not spent on innovation.
3. Prioritise regulatory stability before expansion.
With 144 tech-related laws and 270 regulatory bodies across the EU, the sector is already heavily regulated. Existing frameworks should be fully implemented and properly assessed before new ones are added. Where a genuine gap is found, it should be closed in a targeted, proportionate and risk-based way rather than through one-size-fits-all obligations.
4. Apply the same rules to every company operating in Europe.
EU law should apply to all companies active in the Single Market, regardless of where they are headquartered. No exemptions, no shortcuts and no special treatment, particularly where rules are broken. Enforcement authorities need the people, resources and tools to detect violations and act.
5. Enforce smarter.
EU, national and regional authorities should work in harmony rather than in silos, with coordination across sectors and across borders. Europe does not need a new rulebook. It needs the one it already has, applied consistently.
The video features Adam Jay, CEO of Vinted Marketplace and EUTA President; Conor McNamara, Chief Revenue Officer at Stripe; Thomas Zimmermann, CEO of FREENOW by Lift; Marie Even, Deputy CEO of Cdiscount; and Jorn Palm, Chief Legal Officer at Bol.
EUTA and its members remain ready to work with the European Commission, the European Parliament and Member States on a strategy to build a Single Market that empowers its companies to innovate, grow and succeed.
One Market. One Rulebook. One Future.
