On 12 February 2026, EU leaders met for an informal retreat at Alden Biesen to discuss how to deepen the single market, reduce economic dependencies and boost competitiveness. They were also joined by Mario Draghi for a working session on EU competitiveness in a new global geoeconomic context, and by Enrico Letta for a working session on how to make better use of the single market in a fast-changing world. Looking ahead, the leaders agreed on a set of priority areas to strengthen EU competitiveness and strategic autonomy. They will follow-up on these discussions at the upcoming European Council meeting in March 2026, at which point the Commission is also expected to present a roadmap on ‘one Europe, one market’.

The key themes and conclusions are as follows:

• Simpler EU rules for businesses: President Costa reported that there was an unanimous agreement among EU leaders to continue to push ahead with the EU’s ambitious simplification agenda.
• A deeper EU single market: The EU leaders accepted Enrico Letta’s challenge to move from an incomplete single market to ‘one market for one Europe’. President Costa emphasised that this work is urgent and must be carried out in 2026 and 2027. Its main component will be greater use of Regulations that will be directly applicable in the EU Member States. In this context, the leaders also agreed on the importance of moving forward on a ’28th regime’, to ensure that EU companies can operate seamlessly across borders within a single set of corporate rules. This in turn can help companies grow across Europe, reduce administrative burdens and ease access to financing.
• Investments and Innovation: The EU leaders agreed on allowing a degree of company consolidation in certain strategic sectors, such as the telecom sector, to achieve the necessary levels of investments and innovation. It was underlined that it is also important that these investments should be part of a social contract and that the ongoing review of merger guidelines play an important role in this. Also, they agreed to speed up work with the savings and investment union. In terms of public investments, President Costa noted that the leaders must discuss the role of European instruments, also in the context of negotiations for the next multiannual financial framework, the EU’s long-term budget.
• Energy: In view of electricity prices, it was stressed that pragmatic solutions are needed that take into account the specific challenges of member states and some industrial sectors. Working closely with the European Commission, EU leaders will look at concrete measures at the European Council meeting in March 2026.
• Strategic Industries: It was announced that there was a broadly shared understanding about the strategic importance, for Europe, to protect and reinforce certain sectors. This includes sectors such as defence, space, clean tech, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and payment systems. Moving forward, the EU will map and identify dependencies and tackle them through a diversification strategy. In view of ‘European production preference’, it was stated that there was broad agreement among EU leaders to use it in selected sectors, following an in-depth analysis to identify where it is necessary and useful.

Open trade policy: Unanimity was among the leaders that Europe is open for trade. In this context, a pragmatic trade policy that focuses on diversification was highlighted to be in Europe’s collective interest. EU leaders stated that they will continue to support the work made by the European Commission in trade policy.