III. COMPETITIVENESS  11. A more competitive Union will be a stronger Union, better able to protect its citizens, its values and its interests on the global stage while sustaining its prosperity and the European social model. The need to invest in our defence and our competitiveness are closely interlinked. The European Council underlines the urgent need to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, building on the Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal and on its conclusions of 6 March 2025 on...

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By António Dias da Silva and Marco Weissler | AI is already part of many workers’ daily routines. Some fear losing their jobs, but most don’t. The ECB Blog looks at how workers are using AI tools, how they feel about it and what that means for work in the future. This post is part of a miniseries related to the ECB conference “The Transformative Power of AI”, on 1-2 April 2025, bringing together researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Learn more here. The...

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Prepared by Malin Andersson, Valerie Jarvis and Michel Soudan | Business investment in the euro area has grown less dynamically – and its outlook remains less favourable – than in the United States. In the post-pandemic period between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2024, business investment grew by 15.4% in the United States – more than double the 6.8% cumulative increase over this period in the euro area (Chart A). Across components, intangible investment – i.e. intellectual...

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By Claudia Buch and Isabel Schnabel | As the normalisation of the Eurosystem balance sheet progresses, the aggregate amount of central bank liquidity available to banks in the euro area will fall over the coming years. This blog explains the role played by the Eurosystem’s refinancing operations within the operational framework for monetary policy implementation. The ECB, both as a monetary policy authority and as a supervisor, expects that banks should consider these operations as an integral part of...

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Anonymised data on individual banks in the entire euro area will be available to academic researchers Several access modes will be tested with a view to establishing a permanent framework for research access to ECB data The European Central Bank (ECB) today launched a pilot project to facilitate research access to data it collects from the financial sector. The initiative aims to promote independent research, enhance cross-country economic analysis and promote a deeper understanding of financial dynamics within the...

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Ahead of tomorrow's World Consumer Rights Day, the Commission has published the 2025 Consumer Conditions Scoreboard, which shows that 68% of European consumers feel confident about the safety of the products that they buy, with 70% trusting that their consumer rights are respected by traders.  However, data from the Scoreboard also shows that online risks for consumers persist, including scams, fake reviews, and misleading advertising practices. Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, said: “The...

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Anonymised data on individual banks in the entire euro area will be available to academic researchers Several access modes will be tested with a view to establishing a permanent framework for research access to ECB data The European Central Bank (ECB) today launched a pilot project to facilitate research access to data it collects from the financial sector. The initiative aims to promote independent research, enhance cross-country economic analysis and promote a deeper understanding of financial dynamics within the...

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