Dublin Chamber’s Submission on Ireland’s EU Presidency Priorities:
Last week, Dublin Chamber submitted its response to the consultation on Ireland’s 2026 Presidency of the Council of the EU, highlighting the Presidency as a key opportunity to strengthen Europe’s and Ireland’s competitiveness, sustainability and long-term prosperity.
Our submission sets out the priorities that the Dublin business community believes should shape the Presidency, including enhancing competitiveness, strengthening the Single Market, creating a more efficient and predictable regulatory environment and advancing climate and energy objectives.
We also emphasised the importance of consolidation over reinvention, urging a focus on advancing well-developed, strategically important files for Ireland and positioning Europe as an outward-looking, innovative and attractive place to do business and invest. You can read our submission in full here.
What Should Members Watch Out for Next?
European Commission's Single Market Strategy: Implications for Business
The European Commission has published a new Single Market Strategy aimed at simplifying the EU Single Market. While reaffirming the Single Market as central to EU prosperity and competitiveness, the Commission has acknowledged that persistent fragmentation continues to limit its potential and that fundamental reforms are needed.
The new Strategy targets long-standing business concerns, including complex and overlapping regulations that increase compliance costs, divergent procedures across EU and national regulators, and public procurement rules that remain too burdensome to encourage cross-border participation. It also points to persistent gaps in how some Member States apply Single Market principles, resulting in restrictive national rules that undermine harmonisation
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has broadly endorsed the Commission’s approach, stressing that success will depend on effective implementation and stronger enforcement. The EESC supports efforts to simplify regulation, harmonise product labelling, improve recognition of professional qualifications across Member States, and advance transparent, inclusive standardisation.
They also welcome proposals such as an optional “28th Regime” for businesses operating across borders, while emphasising the need for safeguards to prevent misuse. Importantly for Irish and EU businesses, the EESC calls for extending the Single Market into strategically important sectors identified in the Letta Report, including energy and financial services, to strengthen long-term EU resilience and competitiveness.
Overall, the reforms present a significant opportunity to reduce regulatory barriers, support SMEs, improve enforcement and extend the Single Market into strategically vital sectors, provided that EU Institutions, along with Member States, social partners and stakeholders, are all fully engaged in delivery. For more on the EESC’s remarks, see here.
European Competitiveness Fund
The proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) represents a major step in aligning EU funding with competitiveness as the guiding principle of EU economic policy. Building on the Competitiveness Compass and recent simplification initiatives, the ECF aims to strengthen Europe’s global position by supporting innovation, skills, productivity and business scale-up.
Designed as a flexible funding instrument, the ECF will bring together several existing programmes under four policy windows. While this approach allows for rapid responses to shared challenges, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has cautioned that siloed implementation could limit cross-sector opportunities, particularly for deep-tech and dual-use innovation. Strong coordination across all windows, and structured engagement with business representatives, will be critical to ensure predictability and impact.
The EESC has stressed the importance of clear, transparent award criteria based on competitiveness, excellence and economic potential. It also warns against favouring specific sectors or firms, underlining the need for a level playing field across Member States. Instruments such as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) are highlighted as useful tools for promoting cooperation and balanced participation.
Promoting European champions is a core objective of the ECF, but the EESC emphasises that this cannot be achieved without strong SME integration into value chains. While the Fund recognises the needs of SMEs and small mid-caps, more tailored approaches are needed, alongside proposals such as national ‘financial and funding ombudsmen’ to support SME access to finance.
The EESC also highlights the need to mobilise private and institutional investment, linking public funding more closely with capital markets to help close Europe’s investment gap and support the development of a Savings and Investment Union.
Overall, the ECF has the potential to become a powerful competitiveness tool, provided its governance is clear, procedures are simplified, digital systems are strong, and businesses and social partners are actively involved in its implementation. Read the EESC’s full evaluation here.