EPICENTER

In Dnews.gr, the Centre for Liberal Studies (KEFiM), as part of the Epicenter network, presented its new policy paper on the competitiveness of the Greek and European economy. The study shows Greece falling three places to 50th out of 69 economies in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2025, with the largest decline in business efficiency. The analysis links Greece’s structural weaknesses to broader EU challenges following the Draghi Report, criticising the proposed new Multiannual Financial Framework for failing to address capital market fragmentation and regulatory barriers to the Single Market.

In Protothema.gr, the Centre for Liberal Studies (KEFiM), as part of the Epicenter network, presented its new policy paper on the competitiveness of the Greek and European economy. The study shows Greece ranking 50th out of 69 economies in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2025, dropping three places from the previous year. The analysis links Greece’s poor performance to bureaucracy, limited access to capital, and slow reforms, while connecting national challenges to the broader EU debate following the Draghi Report and the proposed new Multiannual Financial Framework.

In Newsbeast.gr, the Centre for Liberal Studies (KEFiM), as part of the Epicenter network, presented its new policy paper on the competitiveness of the Greek and European economy. The study shows Greece ranking 50th out of 69 economies in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2025, dropping three places from the previous year, and links poor performance to persistent bureaucracy, brain drain, and slow reforms. The analysis connects Greek challenges to the broader EU debate following the Draghi Report, criticising the Commission’s proposed new Multiannual Financial Framework for failing to address fragmentation of capital markets and regulatory barriers to the Single Market.

In BrusselsReport.eu, Marek Tatala, CEO of the Economic Freedom Foundation, endorsed Epicenter’s Alternative EU Budget proposal, arguing that a genuinely European budget should focus on cross-border priorities such as the Single Market, security, and infrastructure rather than ever-larger spending. The article supports capping the budget and applying a strict subsidiarity test, criticising the illusion that simply expanding the Multiannual Financial Framework will make Europe stronger or more competitive.

In Ilfoglio.it, economist Nicola Rossi analyses Italy’s push for greater fiscal flexibility within the EU’s economic governance framework. The article discusses the Italian government’s request for more budgetary room in the context of the ongoing Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations, warning that this comes at an inopportune moment amid rising interest rates and global macroeconomic imbalances, and stresses the need for any additional flexibility to remain strictly temporary and paired with a clear path back to fiscal discipline.

In NZZ.ch, Epicenter’s network of liberal think tanks, including Germany’s Prometheus-Institut, presented its Alternative EU Budget proposal, demonstrating how the Multiannual Financial Framework could be reduced by around €220 billion to €1.54 trillion (1% of GNI). The article criticises the Commission’s €1.763 trillion plan and new own resources, advocating deep cuts to non-core spending such as agriculture, cohesion policy, and climate funds, while prioritising the deepening of the Single Market, genuine cross-border public goods, and fiscal discipline over expanding joint debt and centralisation.

In Corriere.it, Alberto Mingardi highlighted the European Union’s record tax pressure at around 39% of GDP and criticised the European Commission’s proposal to expand the next Multiannual Financial Framework to €1.763 trillion with new own resources. The article references Epicenter’s study, which demonstrates that a leaner budget capped at 1% of GNI (approximately €1.6 trillion for 2028-2034) would be sufficient for the Union’s core functions, warning that additional European taxes and spending would further burden families and businesses without delivering genuine growth or competitiveness.

In Euractiv, Epicenter’s research fellow Christian Năsuela sharply criticised the European Commission’s record €1.8tn Multiannual Financial Framework proposal, arguing that the next EU budget should be capped at €1.54tn. The piece highlights the network’s Alternative EU Budget initiative, which calls for deep cuts to inefficient programmes, rejects new own resources that fail basic coherence tests, and urges a shift toward genuine competitiveness-enhancing priorities instead of ever-expanding spending.