AFS' Analysis of the Cyprus EU Presidency Programme: Building Europe’s Power Through Growth

The Cyprus Presidency on the Council of the EU arrives at the right time. Europe is no longer debating the need for competitiveness, innovation, and strategic capability – the challenge now is execution.

At Allied For Startups, we welcome the Presidency’s clear message: autonomy is not about turning inward, but about building the capacity to grow, scale, and compete globally. When Europe’s companies grow, the continent gains economic weight – and only then does sovereignty become tangible.

We support a vision of sovereignty based on three core principles:

• Growth is the foundation: without scale and speed, sovereignty remains rhetorical.
• Regulation as an enabler: when designed to empower, rules strengthen companies, accelerate innovation, and create strategic advantage.
• Execution matters: speed, clarity, and purpose are as important as ambition.

This is why the programme’s focus on simplification, Single Market completion, deeper capital markets, digital capability, and openness matters for startups and scale-ups. Proposals like the 28th Regime are not abstract goals – they shape the conditions that influence whether founders start, scale, and stay in Europe.

Our guiding conviction is simple:

• When policies reduce friction, companies scale.
• When companies scale, Europe builds economic power.
• When economic power grows, sovereignty becomes real.

Sovereignty should never justify adding barriers. It is the result of coherent, pro-growth policy. Good policy for startups is good policy for Europe.

We look forward to working with the Cyprus Presidency to help turn this vision into action and make Europe a place where ambitious companies grow by design, not by resilience.