Aura Salla

📣 This was the core message I brought this past week to two important events: DigitalEurope’s Summer Summit and Euractiv’s Tech Policy Conference:

👉 Europe is not competitive in tech and far behind the US and China. Europe has shown ambition in making complicated rules but if ”the Brussels Effect” only exports rules and does not drive real economic and industrial momentum, we are in serious trouble.

👉 One of our biggest obstacles is self-inflicted: regulatory fragmentation, national gold-plating, excessive complexity and no legal certainty.

☝️ Each new regulatory proposal adds friction, cost and confusion for companies trying to scale.❓If fairness is truly the goal, what is fair for European companies about having to navigate a mess of rules that even the European Commission cannot understand? Like the AI Act.

💡 We should start by simplifying or removing the barriers that prevent European firms to grow. Without risking market stability.

❗️Recent events with American tech companies have underscored how exposed we are by dependence on certain providers. 👉 European alternatives could be more resilient. We must create an ecosystem where they can grow and lead.

☝️ For Europe, this is about our security, values, and our place in the world. We cannot afford to get this wrong.

#tech
#digital
#competitiveness

Even I speak and focus a lot on tech and digital issues, climate and energy are as well important topics in my committee and in my core interest. Thankfully I have also many opportunities to address my key objectives here.

👉 The Clean Industrial Deal must be a pillar of Europe’s economic security and strategic autonomy. That means putting the clean tech sector at the heart of our decarbonisation and our economic strategy. It’s is about building a resilient European value chain for clean technologies – from raw materials to manufacturing, deployment, and recycling. ♻️

This means:

☝️ Cutting red tape and accelerating permitting,
☝️ Lowering electricity costs through expanded Power Purchase Agreements and faster grid investments and development,
☝️ Deploying industrial decarbonisation technologies – from carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) to low-carbon hydrogen – based on science, not ideology,
☝️ And keeping our definitions technologically neutral and future-proof, so European innovation can flourish.

I am especially concerned that the EU doesn’t fall into the trap of subsidy races. ❗️A free market economy and a seamless Single Market must remain the foundation of our competitiveness.

#cleantech
#competitiveness

I often get questions about my exercise habits and sports I enjoy. When growing up I used to play Finnish baseball ⚾️ (our national game) and dance. I also did athletics for a while, enjoyed swimming 🏊‍♀️ , skating, cross country and downhill skiing as well as playing tennis 🎾 and badminton 🏸 . But baseball was really my thing. I even went to a sports high school class but decided during the army that I’m not going to be a professional Finnish baseball player (🙃) so I stopped.

Since then I have been running 🏃‍♀️ , skiing occasionally, I had my moment with different LesMills classes body pump etc. when it was “the thing” 😅, and going to the gym. I ran a marathon in Duisburg 2017 in time 3:51. After that I hurt my back and running was not that much fun anymore.

During covid, when all gyms were closed in Brussels, I got into pilates. That is still my go to exercise every day. I’m also running but my main cardio is definitely playing with my toddlers and pushing them around in their twin-stroller. 😅

We also enjoy playing basketball 🏀 with my son and we are starting to introduce skiing – downhill and cross country – ⛷️ to them which we both enjoy with my husband. 🫶

#sports
#excercise
#mydailyexercise