Antwerp Declaration Monitoring Report

Building on the 10 pillars of the Antwerp Declaration for an Industrial Deal in the EU, the report tracks the EU’s year-over-year performance and benchmarks it against key global players, revealing that international peers such as China and the US are consistently better positioned and often advancing more rapidly.

For 83% of the key performance indicators (KPIs) monitored, there has been no improvement or even a deterioration since the Antwerp Declaration was signed in 2024. The EU holds a clear competitive advantage in only three of 22 internationally benchmarked areas: biomass usage for biomaterials and bioenergy, circular material use, and regulatory sandboxes. These few strengths are insufficient to restore the EU’s overall competitive position, leading to a deindustrialisation of its open economy. 

Energy remains a critical pain point, and the EU’s complex regulatory landscape is an increasing barrier to investment. Funding for the industrial transition is also a major challenge. Moreover, the analysis reveals complexities in the EU's current approach, where some policy levers are underused while others create unforeseen negative outcomes.

Key findings include:

• EU industrial users continue to face persistently high energy prices: In 2025, the gas price went up with 13% and the electricity price plateaued. Compared to other regions, the EU gas price is 4.6 times higher than the US and the electricity price is 2.4 higher than China, the US and India.  
• The EU is expanding clean energy capacity but is outpaced by China and its PPA market remains small: China now has 2.4 times the EU’s clean energy capacity and is further accelerating, deploying clean power at 5 times the EU’s rate. Cumulative EU PPA volumes represent only 6.4% of total clean energy capacity.  
• The EU struggles to deploy infrastructure at the required pace: Despite increased grid investment, at par with the US but lagging China, the EU did not make significant progress on interconnectivity. Besides, connection queues, up to twice the waiting time in the US, are a clear bottleneck. The EU remains distant from CCS and H2 targets. 
• EU regulatory landscape is an increased barrier to investment and significant time is spent on compliance: The proportion of EU firms identifying business regulation as a major barrier to investment has increased by 42% over the past three years. Senior staff dedicated to compliance is 1.5 times more vs the US and 11 times more vs China.    
• Funding shortfalls and complexity limit EU industrial transition: Member States provide 75% of public funding, yet distribution remains uneven. Structural EU-level funding gaps, illustrated by the Innovation Fundwhich is five times oversubscribed, are further exacerbated by a complex and fragmented funding architecture.  
• Demand-side levers for low-carbon and Made in Europe products remain underutilized despite significant potential: While public procurement accounts for 14% of the EU’s GDP, there is no EU-wide mandatory green public procurement and a lack of harmonization of data and standards.  
• The EU remains structurally constrained by persistent raw material dependencies and limited domestic production: The EU is fully import-dependent for more than half of critical raw materials. The EU leads with a circular material use rate of 12%, well above the global average, yet is faced with increased plastic recycling facility closures.  
• Improving the Single Market could significantly increase overall EU competitiveness: Internal market barriers impose costs equivalent to tariffs of approximately 65% for goods and up to 100% for services. 61% of EU manufacturing exporters have reported compliance with varying standards and rules across Member States.  
• The EU's innovation framework lags the US and China: Overall innovation performance ranks 20 percentage points lower than China, and 15 percentage points lower than the US. Deficiencies include a higher risk premium, significantly lower patent filings & venture capital activity, and inefficiencies in R&D spending despite individual successes among Member States.   
• The EU’s trade strategy has expanded beyond traditional tariff and barrier removal: The proportion of EU trade benefiting from preferential terms has grown with 29%. The number of EU trade defence cases, mainly concerning anti-dumping measures, has doubled over the past five years. 

This Monitoring Report is the first annual comprehensive, data-driven assessment of the EU’s progress in implementing the 10 key pillars outlined in the Antwerp Declaration. Continuous progress tracking is required to ensure that concrete actions are taken promptly, enabling the EU to restore its industrial relevance and competitiveness on the global stage.