Is Jamie Dimon right about Europe?

That is precisely why I think we should listen when people like Jamie Dimon raise concerns about Europe's competitiveness.

It is easy to dismiss such criticism as another American banker talking down Europe. I don't think we should — not because Jamie Dimon is necessarily right about everything, but because some of the questions he is raising are questions Europe cannot afford to ignore.

Europe's challenge

Europe has enormous strengths: world-class businesses, highly skilled people, deep pools of capital, strong institutions and some of the world's most attractive markets.

But economic strength cannot simply be inherited. It has to be maintained.

Dimon's criticism focuses on several structural issues: regulation, fragmented markets, high energy costs, weak productivity and Europe's ability to scale businesses. These are not issues unique to Jamie Dimon. European institutions and business leaders have also identified many of the same challenges in recent years.

The uncomfortable question is whether Europe is making it unnecessarily difficult to turn its considerable resources into growth.

Europe does not lack talent, capital or ideas. But the mechanisms connecting those things are not always working as efficiently as they could. And in a global economy where scale increasingly matters, that becomes an important issue.

Capital and infrastructure

This is where the discussion becomes particularly interesting from an investment perspective.

Europe needs to make better use of the capital it already has. Institutional investors, pension funds, private capital and corporate balance sheets represent enormous resources. Yet Europe's financial markets remain fragmented, and European policymakers are explicitly working to improve cross-border capital flows and deepen capital markets.

At the same time, the next economy will require enormous investment in physical infrastructure.

The economy is becoming increasingly digital, but the digital economy still depends on the physical world.

AI requires computing capacity and enormous amounts of power. E-commerce requires warehouses and logistics. Modern industry requires energy, grids, transportation and manufacturing infrastructure.

The more digital the economy becomes, the more important its physical foundations become.

Europe therefore faces both a challenge and an opportunity.

Europe doesn't need to become America

I don't believe Europe's answer is to simply copy the United States.

Europe has its own model, its own values and its own strengths.

The objective should not be deregulation at any cost. It should be better regulation.

Not less ambition, but better execution.

Not abandoning European standards, but ensuring that those standards do not prevent European companies from competing globally.

And not choosing between public and private capital, but finding better ways for the two to work together.

So, is Jamie Dimon right?

In some important respects, I believe he is.

Europe does face structural challenges around productivity, regulation, energy, capital markets and scale.

Pretending otherwise does not make Europe stronger.

But neither do I believe that Europe's future is simply a story of decline.

Europe has enormous pools of capital at precisely the moment when it needs to invest heavily in energy, digital infrastructure, transportation, industry and technology.

That creates a powerful combination: capital, opportunity and a growing need for investment.

The question is whether Europe can connect the three.

I don't see Jamie Dimon's criticism of Europe as an argument against Europe. I see it as a challenge to Europe.

Being pro-European should not mean defending every European policy. It should mean wanting Europe to succeed badly enough to confront its weaknesses honestly.

Europe does not need to become America.

But it does need to become more competitive, more investable and better at turning its considerable resources into growth.

The next economy is being built now.

Europe should make sure it is building it too.

Nikolai Nalu Heering