Thoughts from Davos

It's now been a tradition for leaders to meet once a year in the Swiss alpine town of Davos, to discuss global matters. And yet, this year was different. Following the very turbulent year of 2016, the last World Economic Forum #wef17 revolved around the search for a new “Responsive and Responsible Leadership", one which is not always easy to find. The wave of populist movements across the democratic world has sent a strong wake-up call to all of us, manifesting that business-as-usual is no longer possible; that we must recognise the popular frustration from the current modus-operandi – before it becomes too late.

So what went wrong? Some are attempting to blame migrants for all our problems, suggesting to build walls and closing borders. Others blame global trade, and suggest protectionist policies which curtail the global trade system, as we know it. Both are wrong. Nationalistic policies were attempted in the 20th century and brought humanity to its lowest points in history. Re-attempting nationalistic policies today, when our world is more global than ever before – is absurd. 

I came to Davos with my colleagues from the European Commission with a strong message: Europe will not leave the leadership void; we intend to fill it. We will do our best to inspire, to set example, to show the way. This is true when it comes to preserving our democratic values of tolerance and respect, as much as it is when it comes to creating clean, connected, and competitive markets. Our commitments to both our pluralistic democratic model and to modernising our economies might seem utterly different but they have one thing in common: providing better jobs for a strong and prosperous middle class.

We, in the EU have made important steps, triggering this transition with some of our policies from last year; with our ambitious approach to the COP21 negotiation table and the swift ratification of the Paris Agreement which followed, with our newly reformed European carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS) which has inspired similar systems in other major economies around the world, or our new electricity market design which will be greener and more sustainable than ever before. All the above examples present unprecedented opportunities for new business models to emerge.

Our task is not done; some of the greatest challenges are still head of us. For example, my colleagues and I are working with the best minds around in order to reinvent the future's clean, connected and competitive transport whose potential is no less than revolutionary. We are working on empowering cities to be at the forefront of positive and clean change.

A lot of discussions in Davos revolved around the role of machines in the creation (or elimination) of jobs. Robots may indeed replace some of the lowest-paying and least-gratifying manual labour jobs, yet, I have no doubt that their development will provide valorising high-paying jobs which require creativity, imagination, and human spirit. Digitation is therefore not a threat but an opportunity, a tremendous one.

Finally, our ambition with regards to the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' is not only about redefining our own economic model here in Europe; we would also like work with our partners in developing countries. We can help them learn from our own mistakes, and jump over the "fossil age" directly into green prosperity. This commitment to help the developing world make the transition is backed by our policies. The EU Investment Fund, for example, which is one of the flagship initiatives of the current European Commission – has now been expanded to the rest of the world, with a special focus on developing African countries.

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I cannot predict what history books will make of our period. But if 2016 is to be remembered as the year of a leadership crisis, I intend to do everything in my power to make 2017 the year in which the EU showed new responsible, sustainable, and democratic global leadership.