UPDATE 4-EU leaders vow to accelerate single market, in struggle to compete with US and China

European Union leaders agreed on ‌Thursday ​on a wide-ranging set of commitments to improve how the bloc's border-free internal market works so Europe's businesses can be competitive and survive aggressive economic rivalry from the U.S. and China. Meeting at a Belgian castle, the leaders stressed how urgent it was to act and agreed to speed up the completion of a savings and investment ‌union, review merger rules to help create European champions, make it easier for companies to get started and scale up and cut red tape throughout, top EU officials said.

"One Europe one market ... this is our ambition," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that the EU executive would also crack down on additional layers of legislation that member states add when implementing EU decisions. SPEED THINGS UP

The European Commission will present in March a plan on how to proceed ‌with this deepening of the European Union's single market of 450 million consumers, with the aim for leaders to agree on a concrete timetable. That will include allowing a preference for European goods in public purchases in ‌strategic sectors, von der Leyen told a press conference at the end of the meeting.

EU growth has persistently lagged that of the United States and China and EU productivity and innovation in fields such as AI has fallen short, with the bloc also squeezed by tariffs and export curbs by its global rivals. "The European Union must act quickly and decisively. And this commitment was unanimously emphasized by all participants today," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters.

SAVINGS UNIONS To speed things up, von der Leyen said the EU executive arm would push on with ⁠a long delayed ​capital markets union that would allow some 10 trillion euros ($11.86 ⁠trillion) of savings now languishing in bank accounts to be invested in the EU economy. "We agreed that we want to be done with phase one of the Savings and Investment Union, that includes market integration, supervision and securitisation by June," she said.

If it is impossible to move ⁠forward quickly with all 27 EU countries at the same time, the EU would push on with the project in a smaller group of at least nine member states, she said. ACT TOGETHER?

A key question now will be whether the EU's 27 member ​states can overcome self-interest and implement a joint plan of action. While all EU countries want a more competitive bloc, they disagree on how to get there, and have done so for years, on ⁠key issues such as whether to issue joint euro bonds, or on how to cut electricity prices.

But European Council chief Antonio Costa, speaking of Thursday's decisions to speed up unifying Europe's single market, said: "I think it's really a game changer." One after the other, EU leaders stressed it was ⁠urgent ​to act.

"We share the same sense of urgency. We have to accelerate. We are shaken by competition, sometimes by unfair competition and tariffs," French President Emmanuel Macron said. TACKLE HIGH ENERGY COSTS Many leaders also stressed it was vital the EU acts on high energy prices, with Europe's industry facing power prices that are more than double those in the U.S. and China.

While no decisions on this were made, the Commission will put forward options on how ⁠to proceed at the next EU summit in March, such as whether to continue a system whereby the most expensive energy source, typically gas, sets a common power price, including for cheaper renewables and nuclear. Meanwhile, von der ⁠Leyen defended the EU's emissions trading system (ETS), saying it has "clear ⁠benefits," after some government leaders called for the system to be revised. "The emission trading system has clear benefits ... The ETS has also elements that if the price for whatever reason is going too high, or the economic circumstances are tough, that you can with the 'market stability reserve', modulate the price," she said.

($1 = 0.8430 euros)