TL;DRSeven of Europe’s largest tech companies have formed a standing lobby group called the European Tech Creators with direct access to Commission President von der Leyen. The group is pushing for faster deregulation, easier mergers, and a completed single market, but the arrangement has drawn criticism over corporate proximity to policymaking.
Seven of Europe’s largest technology companies have created a permanent dialogue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, pressing the bloc to deregulate faster and let European firms consolidate. The group, which calls itself the European Tech Creators, collectively generates €417 billion in annual revenue, represents nearly €1.1 trillion in market capitalisation, and employs close to a million people worldwide.
“You cannot make very complex policies and then say we’re going to simplify,” ASML chief executive Christophe Fouquet told reporters in Brussels on Monday. “It’s a lot better if you do the right policy in the first place.”
What the group wants
The message is blunt: Europe is regulating itself into irrelevance. Fouquet, alongside Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, outgoing Ericsson chief executive Börje Ekholm, and Mistral co-founder Arthur Mensch, met with von der Leyen to argue for fewer rules, easier mergers, and a completed single market.
