{"id":41390,"date":"2026-04-01T17:17:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/?p=41390"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:45:30","slug":"europaforum-northern-sweden-eus-new-competitiveness-fund-can-empower-small-businesses-and-regional-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/?p=41390","title":{"rendered":"Europaforum Northern Sweden: EU\u2019s new Competitiveness Fund can empower small businesses and regional Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Europaforum Northern Sweden (EFNS) has issued a new position on the European Commission\u2019s proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). The statement responds to the Commission\u2019s legislative proposal and emphasizes the need to strengthen opportunities for small businesses, as well as to recognize the role of regions and municipalities in Europe\u2019s industrial development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new fund to boost EU competitiveness
<\/strong>Following the new Commission\u2019s start in 2024, competitiveness has been placed high on the EU political agenda. The Commission proposes to consolidate twelve existing EU funds into a single Competitiveness Fund worth approximately \u20ac234 billion to strengthen European industry and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EFNS welcomes the ambition and sees significant potential in the new fund.
\u2013 The European Union\u2019s new Competitiveness Fund has a great opportunity to strengthen European industry by including small businesses and regions. That is where much of the drive, innovation, and future solutions come from, says Anders \u00d6berg, Regional Councilor in Norrbotten and rapporteur for Europaforum Northern Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EFNS points out that the current regulatory framework is relatively broad and gives the European Commission significant influence over how resources are allocated, which makes inclusive design essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greater focus on micro and small enterprises
<\/strong>A central element of EFNS\u2019s position is that micro and small enterprises should be explicitly included in the fund. EFNS recommends, among other measures, that at least ten percent of the fund\u2019s resources be earmarked for these companies and that support instruments be designed with simpler application processes and lower administrative requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regions as key actors in industrial investment
<\/strong>EFNS also emphasizes that regions and municipalities play a central role in EU competitiveness policy. Experiences from Northern Sweden\u2019s green industrial investments show that local and regional levels are crucial for infrastructure, skills development, and community planning.
\u2013  By giving regions and municipalities a clear role in the fund, strong conditions are created for investments, jobs, and sustainable growth across Europe, says Johan Loock, Regional Politician in J\u00e4mtland H\u00e4rjedalen and rapporteur for Europaforum Northern Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EFNS believes that regions and municipalities should be eligible to receive support from the fund, for example for investments in housing, infrastructure, and local innovation environments that enable industrial establishment. The goal is for the EU\u2019s new Competitiveness Fund to strengthen Europe\u2019s industrial development as a whole \u2014 including the regions of Northern Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find the full position here: EFNS-position-views-on-European-Competitiveness-Fund.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europaforum Northern Sweden (EFNS) has issued a new position on the European Commission\u2019s proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). The statement responds to the Commission\u2019s legislative proposal and emphasizes the need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engelska-nyheter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41402,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41390\/revisions\/41402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaforum.nu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}