ABB: Europe Risks Broad Unemployment Without Deregulation

Europe risks widespread job losses if it does not deregulate, ABB President and CEO Morten Wierod said recently (Financial Times, subscription).

• ABB, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is among the EU‘s largest engineering firms.

What’s going on: “European lawmakers have displayed ‘no sense of urgency’ in pursuing deregulation even as rising gas prices in Europe dent the bloc’s competitiveness compared to the U.S. … ‘I hope that we don’t need to see a much bigger crisis that means mass unemployment,” said Wierod. 

• As many as 1.3 million European Union jobs could be lost as a result of the higher costs, the European commissioner for jobs said this month.
• The EU, Wierod told the FT, must “remove more regulation and not just … simplify but … eliminate” to spur economic growth.

The background: Earlier this month, Brussels announced a plan to reduce reliance on U.S. technology—on top of its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, first approved in 2024.

• The CSDDD “forces companies to identify and mitigate potential social and environmental risks across every stage of a product’s life cycle—from sourcing to disposal,” according to the NAM, which has pushed back against the law since its inception.
• The directive “would introduce significant operational complexity, compliance costs and potential for bottlenecks and delays throughout the complex, global manufacturing supply chain … [and] expose manufacturers to significant legal liability,” according to the NAM.

Stalled reforms: Wierod noted that European lawmakers have largely failed to act on the roadmap for reform written by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi for the European Commission.

• “Just 10% of his 383 proposals have been enacted, according to an online tracker.”

ABB advocates: “ABB is lobbying EU policymakers to accelerate electrification, industrial efficiency and decarbonisation, saying it is the fastest way to make the bloc more competitive.”