Europe’s Digital Omnibus: A Step Forward — But Is It Enough?

Insights from The Tech Policy Lounge at Slush, hosted by the Finnish Startup Community & the S9+ Coalition

Europe is overflowing with talent, ideas and entrepreneurial ambition – yet the message across the continent is increasingly clear: we are falling behind. This urgency framed the discussion at The Tech Policy Lounge, where policy leaders and innovators gathered for a frank examination of Europe’s competitiveness gap. One of the most closely watched sessions brought together Matias Marttinen, Finland’s Minister of Employment, Patrik Gayer from AMD, and Robert Torvelainen from Wolt, moderated by Stina Lantz, CEO of Swedish Incubators & Science Parks.

From the outset, the tone was set by a pointed observation about Europe’s structural weaknesses. One of the speakers argued that the continent must rediscover its ambition:

“The most important thing for us now is to build up a truly single market that is nowhere there yet. We need to have one thing in mind with everything we do, which is competitiveness.”

European growth remains slowed

With the Digital Omnibus newly launched, the panel explored whether this effort to simplify the EU’s rulebook can meaningfully shift the trajectory for Europe’s startups and scaleups. Minister Marttinen welcomed the Commission’s initiative but warned that simplification risks being overshadowed by new regulatory layers emerging in parallel. As he put it, “I do hope that the Omnibus will help our startups to grow. But the Commission is preparing these omnibuses while also preparing quite a lot of new regulation. We need a better balance.”

He also acknowledged the role of member states, particularly in the Nordic region, in contributing to regulatory overreach. “We have targeted that we should implement all EU legislation at the minimum level, but it is completely out of the question whether we have really managed to do that.”

For Marttinen, simplification must therefore begin both in Brussels and in national capitals.

From the perspective of a fast-scaling company, Robert Torvelainen described the operational reality of navigating Europe’s fragmented regulatory terrain. Even as Wolt expands globally, its European growth remains slowed by inconsistency and administrative friction. “Europe is built on complexity,” he said, noting that this complexity comes at a cost:

“When you’re seeking scale, complexity takes away time from actually optimizing for that scale.”

Torvelainen’s example of the Platform Work Directive – once intended to harmonise standards but now likely to produce 27 separate national interpretations – illustrated how easily EU ambitions can be undermined by domestic implementation.

Europe must stop regulating reflexively

Patrik Gayer broadened the discussion by reflecting on why Europe consistently struggles to align regulation with technological reality. As he noted, “The world is exponential; policymaking is linear.”

This mismatch, he argued, leads to long stretches of uncertainty for founders and investors. He warned that the Omnibus may even exacerbate this in the short term:

“These omnibuses are actually further creating uncertainty for the next eight or so months. If anyone is holding their breath that this is the thing, I recommend you take that breath right away.”

Gayer also questioned whether existing regulations have delivered their intended outcomes. Using GDPR as an example, he remarked that “there has not been a single European company with personal data at its core that has grown to over €100 million in revenue after GDPR.”

For him, Europe must stop regulating reflexively and start evaluating impact rigorously.

Despite the criticism, the panel closed on a note of determined optimism. Gayer reminded the room that Europe has overcome far greater challenges than regulatory complexity. Citing the post-war origins of European integration, he observed, “If we could negotiate the Treaty of Paris in 11 months in 1951, we can make Europe competitive in 2025.”

The Digital Omnibus may be a meaningful step toward simplifying Europe’s regulatory environment, but the panelists agreed that true progress will depend on whether Europe can correct deeper structural flaws: fragmented enforcement, over-implementation, and capital markets that still lag far behind global competitors. Europe’s future competitiveness, they argued, will hinge less on the quantity of regulation than on its clarity, consistency and courage.