The Malta Business Bureau heard a State of the Union still weighted towards security, climate and social issues, with competitiveness left to delivery. Completing the Single Market is the right task; firms will judge it by ease of doing business across borders, not another roadmap.

MBB therefore welcomes the commitment to combat gold-plating of EU legislation. Industrial capacity and climate targets will only hold together if energy is affordable and the transition stays cost-efficient.

MBB welcomes the climate-resilience framework and the Heatwave Plan, but needs clarity on how the European Water Initiative differs from last year’s European Water Resilience Strategy. The Mediterranean Youth Skills and Jobs Initiative likewise requires further clarity on how it will attract quality, skilled labour to Europe. This should promote partnerships between countries to strengthen the European workforce and ensure appropriate skills matching.

AI will matter in how we apply it in our businesses, not just in a frontier-model race, with appropriate safeguards needed.

Rebalancing trade with China is necessary, but caution is needed to avoid raising input costs. MBB also considers with interest the proposed EU associate membership for Canada with further cooperation on energy, minerals and economic security.

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