EU leaders seek to revive economy in major summit

EU leaders are aiming to use a summit today to address the bloc’s listless economy.

Fears of the European economy falling behind the US and China are not new, but worries have intensified as tensions rise with both Washington and Beijing.

Calls for deeper EU integration, seen by some experts as a potential driver of competitiveness, have largely gone unheeded. The region has also fallen behind on innovation: Just one of the 20 most valuable publicly listed tech companies in the world is European.

Brussels needs a “big bang” to respond, the president of the European Council said, adding that the recent jolt to EU defense spending, spurred by disengagement from the US, set a precedent for greater collaboration.