In recent years, the European Union has been increasingly affected by crises. The causes are partly internal to the EU, but to a large extent they are also due to developments outside the Union. Wars, climate change, dwindling raw materials and ever-increasing dependence on third countries pose considerable challenges for the EU. The EU Commission sees this as a threat to the Union's competitiveness.

The Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK) also sees the EU economy under pressure. In contrast to the EU Commission, AK calls for a strengthening of sustainable competitiveness, in which productivity, innovation, modern public and climate-friendly infrastructure, together with legal and planning security for employees and companies, public services and correspondingly high educational standards form the backbone of modern economies. Purely price-based competitiveness with low wages and low protection standards will not bring the desired success. AK advocates an investment offensive as proposed by Mario Draghi in his report on competitiveness. A capital markets union to boost investment must ensure financial stability and must not lead to securitisation and privatisation of pension systems. Protection standards for employees, consumers and society must remain secure. The social partners must be involved throughout the work to strengthen the EU's competitiveness in order to ensure the success and broad acceptance of the planned measures.