European economic power has considerably diminished since the beginning of the global economic and financial crisis. The present fundamental European economic model i.e. the social-market economy requires high efficiency and technological progress to support high living standards by constantly implementing innovation to stimulate economic competitiveness. Accordingly, not all countries of the European Union have the ability to build social welfare models due to their lower technological readiness and innovation potential. The present paper analyses the European economic competitiveness through the prism of economic innovation. The main goal of this research is to identify the disparities in terms of economic innovation and governance quality across the European Union, these being two of the main pillars of favourable economic growth perspectives. The results reached underline the idea that the past disparities in terms of economic innovation have not been diminished within the period of 2007–2016.