Opinion: EU leaders need to do something, not have yet another 'informal retreat' at a castle

The Alden Biesen Castle ahead of the Informal EU Leaders’ Retreat in Alden Biesen, central Belgium on February 12, 2026. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP via Getty Images)

Nicolas Tucat | Afp | Getty Images

Here we go again.

European leaders will hold an “informal retreat” at a Belgian castle on Thursday, as they discuss once again ways to reinvigorate the bloc’s competitiveness in the face of global rivals.

EU Council president António Costa said the gathering would allow leaders to “rethink our approach,” saying Europe’s Single Market of 450 million consumers is a “true superpower.”

How many times do they need to talk about competitiveness rather than actually doing what they should do?

Two years ago, they were presented with solutions by former Italian prime minister and central bank governor, Mario Draghi, and another former Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, in two superb, in-depth reports on how to make the EU more competitive and create a more meaningful Single Market.

What will it take for EU leaders to actually implement them?

Draghi’s 2024 report warned the EU would face “slow agony” if it failed to catch up with its rivals. He wrote that the EU “needs far more coordinated industrial policy, more rapid decisions and massive investment” if it wants to keep pace economically with rivals the United States and China.

That same year, Letta produced a report on the future of the Single Market, which said: “Action has become urgent, particularly as the window of opportunity to intervene and relaunch the European economy risks closing in the near future.”

He called for the simplification of regulations to make the Single Market more dynamic and better support for research and innovation.

Progress in adopting both reports’ has been painfully slow, with EU watchers increasingly frustrated.

Why though? Why the lame progress? Countries’ governments blame Brussels and Brussels blames national governments. Same old, same old.

The solutions, which have been widely lauded, are there. It’s the enactment of these solutions that appears to be missing.

For Europe to achieve its potential, we don’t need a Belgian castle retreat. We need more action and less talk.