The World Economic Forum (WEF) has said there are four approaches that Europe needs to implement to reinvigorate its economy.

The organisation said in an article posted to its website that the bloc needs to spark domestic innovation, tackle the climate challenge, and deliver greater prosperity. This comes, it said, at a time when it is ‘beset by economic malaise’ and needs to invest heavily in its future.

The four broad areas in which it needs to take action, writes the WEF, are:

1. Marrying climate action and growth through cheap, green energy.
2. Uniting capital markets across the continent.
3. Closing the tech gap.
4. Making external action work for the European economy.

While the first three are straightforward calls to action, it is the fourth that is possibly the most interesting.

The WEF said: “With trade in goods and services equivalent to 22.4% of its GDP in 2023, Europe has long been seen as a major beneficiary and champion of free trade – and of the rules-based global economic order that underpins it. At the same time, Europe’s reliance on imported inputs for key industrial sectors, from critical raw materials to batteries and active ingredients in pharmaceuticals, poses new challenges in a context of fierce geopolitical competition.”

This comes against a background in which the continent’s economy is still reeling, the WEF said. Growth in its economic output was below 1% last year. This comes not long after the European Central Bank said that €800bn a year is needed in additional investment.

The good news is the WEF has written a new report.

It added: “In partnership with the European Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum convened a high-level group of European policymakers, thinkers and business leaders over the course of last year that resulted in the new report Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence.”

This report, said the WEF, makes the case for Europe to strike the right balance between open interdependence – a strategy perfectly adapted to a world that no longer exists – and the siren call of strategic autonomy. The continent, it said, should develop an effective foreign economic policy that supports both its own technological and energy transformation needs, as well as those of its key partners.