Resumen de Innovation in the shadow of regulation: removing the barriers

Constantinos Saravakos, Christos Loukos

• This article engages with a central dilemma highlighted in the Draghi Report on European competitiveness: how to protect innovation while avoiding regulatory overreach. While the report accurately identifies market fragmentation and excessive regulation as key obstacles, it stops short of offering a coherent deregulation roadmap. This article addresses that gap by advancing a policy vision grounded in institutional streamlining and market-compatible safeguards, arguing that the EU must shift towards a more innovation-conducive framework that dismantles unnecessary regulatory constraints on entrepreneurial freedom, voluntary exchange, and capital formation. The article proposes a liberalisation agenda to enable dynamic scaling and competitiveness, emphasising procedural safeguards, post-merger innovation benchmarks, and enhanced legal clarity.