Morning opening: Ms von der Leyen, tear down these barriers

Jakub Krupa

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisted this morning that the EU needs to “tear down” the economic barriers that prevent it from becoming “a global giant” and deepen its internal market, as she kicked off 48 hours of intensive discussions on the bloc’s economy.

A number of EU leaders will meet today at an industry event in Antwerp, before they meet again tomorrow morning for a pre-summit discussion ahead of an informal summit proper later that tonight.

Addressing a largely empty hemisphere of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said the bloc needed “to tear down the barriers that prevent us from being a true global giant,” as she warned that the current system amounts to “fragmentation on steroids” with many different, and potentially conflicting, legal regimes.

“We have the second largest economy in the world, but we are driving it with the handbrake on, and the good news is this can be fixed, but we need single minded focus on the single market, and we need to tear down barriers one by one,” she said.

Von der Leyen warned that “competitiveness is not just the foundation of our prosperity, but of our security, and ultimately, of our democracies too.”

The European Commission is planning to move forward a number of proposals, including its “EU Inc.” regime, which would allow people to register a company in any member state within 48 hours, fully online, and help with crossborder operations.

“This is the speed we need, and this is Europe made easy,” she said.

The commission wants a plan to be agreed by March and implemented by the end of next year.

But it’s fair to say that other leaders have some competing ideas, with a particularly strong anti-bureaucracy coalition forming around German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, so expect their voices to feature prominently in this debate. French president Emmanuel Macron also outlined his thoughts on this yesterday (Europe Live, Tuesday).

I will follow this closely for you.

Separately, I will bring you the latest on Ukraine, with EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels to discuss the situation in the country ahead of tomorrow’s separate Nato meeting, and more news from across the continent.

It’s Wednesday, 11 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.