FT has learned about the lack of incentive for telecommunications companies to invest in the EU

The European Commission's (EC) business regulation policy has deprived companies of an incentive to invest in Europe. This was announced on February 19 in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) newspaper by Kristel Heidemann, CEO of the French telecommunications company Orange.

"Our digital infrastructure is so strategically important that we must create conditions that encourage investment. There are no such incentives today," she said.

The head of one of the world's largest telecommunications companies stressed that her international group would reduce investments in Europe due to lower business growth rates and pay attention to attracting customers in the emerging markets of Africa and the Middle East.

"Industry representatives argue that the EU's approach to consolidation and regulation hinders investment and leads to the fact that there are no regional leaders on the continent, and it lags behind the United States and China," the article says.

It also emphasizes that representatives of European telecommunications companies express dissatisfaction with the blocking of mergers and acquisitions in the alliance.

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said on January 21 that artificial standards, excessive rules and bureaucracy have turned Europe into a "regulatory swamp" that repels investment and slows down the continent's economic growth. He called on the leaders of Western countries to eliminate trade barriers both within their union and in foreign trade.

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