Competitiveness Compass is on pause as the European Commission president battles pneumonia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s bout of severe pneumonia has forced a delay to the unveiling of her Competitiveness Compass, a key piece of her economic doctrine scheduled for next week, two Commission officials told POLITICO.
“It will not be presented to the next college, so it will be delayed by at least a week, and we don’t know when it will be rescheduled,” said one official on condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely.
“It has been delayed sine die, because [European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen is still ill,” another official told POLITICO.
Von der Leyen has already ditched a high-profile trip to Poland this week for the start of the country’s EU presidency as she battles pneumonia from her home in Hanover, Germany.
She was scheduled to kick off the New Year with the proposal for the Competitiveness Compass on Jan. 15 which she previously said would frame her work for her term until 2029.
Drawing from reports from Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta on how to boost the EU’s economy, the initiative aims to tackle the EU’s innovation gap with global rivals, ensure the bloc’s economic security and make progress on decarbonizing EU industry. The Commission’s secretariat-general will lead the work.
Commission Executive Vice President Stéphane Séjourné recently dubbed it the EU’s “economic doctrine for the next five years.”
The compass is the keystone for a series of initiatives the Commission has scheduled for the next few months, including the Clean Industrial Deal due in February.
“We do not think the delay could affect the other initiatives logically linked to it. There is enough time,” said one Commission official, adding that this will depend on the timing of von der Leyen’s recovery.
This story has been updated with additional detail and comment on the delay.
