EU business operators demonstrate for competitiveness

For the third time, over 1,000 business people from all over Europe have followed the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confed-erations of Europe (UNICE) and its member federations' call to Brussels.

In the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels they voiced the urgent need for a competitive Europe to decision-makers in the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the member states.

Under the leitmotiv "Crossing Frontiers!" Competitiveness Day presented the business community's case for a climate which allows companies to devote their energies to doing business instead of dealing with unnecessary red tape, and urging politicians at European and national level to implement the Lisbon Strategy.

UNICE president Ernest-Antoine Sellière stressed that there are four areas where initiatives should be taken to improve the EU scenario:

¤ The urgency to untangle the institutional imbroglio: "If there is a governance problem in the EU, it is up to European leaders to find solutions. We, business people, are pressing for a solution."

¤ The European Social Model: Business leaders believe that these values can only be sustainable if competitiveness is achieved. "We support the social model but we do want reforms in the member states to move away from a "job preservation" towards a "job creation" mindset. Those who wish to defend the European model, will have to lead its reform by modernising their own national social system."

¤ The future EU budget: Mr Selliere posed a direct question to EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso: "Are you, European leaders, ready to move? because the status quo is not an option! We need a budget soon and we need a budget that really supports the growth and jobs strategy... Let us get our competitiveness priorities right!"

¤ EU internal market: After referring to the better regulation approach being recently introduced by the EU Commission, the UNICE president stressed the UNICE and all its member federations are very concerned about current developments on REACH (the proposed draft EU regulations on substances). "The requests of companies for a more workable and affordable REACH project have not yet been sufficiently heard, either by some Commissioners or by the UK presidency or by the Environmental Committee of the European Parliament. We need coherence with the growth and jobs strategy.

Mr Selliere went on to appeal for the necessary open market on services, which was indeed highlighted throughout the conference by various speakers. He stated that the combination of the services directive and the posting of workers directive is believed to be the right policy mix.

This message was delivered to high-level political decision-makers such as European Commission President Barroso; European Parlia-ment president Josep Borrell and some members of the European Parliament; as well as UK Parlia-mentary Under-Secretary of State Barry Gardiner for the British Presidency; Karl Falkenberg, deputy director-general of DG Trade at the European Commission; as well as various chairmen of European Parliament committees.

During the conference, several presentations were made and panel discussions conducted, highlighting the importance of competition on an equal footing, the current business challenges and opportunities, globalisation, and various paths to success.

The conference included several European business leaders such as Pasquale Pistorio, vice-president of Confindustria and honorary chairman of STMicroelectronics; Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International and senior vice-president of Microsoft Corporation, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, group director of corporate affairs and board member of Tesco, and Marie-Christine Lombard, group managing director Express and board member of TNT.

As an active member of UNICE, the FOI organised a high-level business delegation from Malta, led by FOI president Adrian Bajada, to participate in this important event.

The FOI delegation was honoured with the participation of Minister for Competitiveness and Communications Censu Galea, as well as MEP Dr Simon Busuttil.

The Malta delegation included FOI director-general Wilfred Kenely, William Wait, finance director, Toly Products Ltd. Joe Bugeja, general manager, Sea Malta. John Soler, chief officer credit, Bank of Valletta, Louis Apap Bologna, president, Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, Pierre Fava, deputy president, Malta Employers Association, Dr Leonard Mizzi, Malta Business Bureau (MBB) director and FOI's permanent Brussels representative, Cecilia Vella, FOI executive, Mark Scicluna Bartoli, manager, Malta Enterprise, Gotthard Tabone, policy co-ordinator, Ministry for Compe-titiveness and Communications, Janine Borg, MBB policy adviser, and Simon Pace, MBB researcher.

To provide some answers to questions like "How can the EU remain a global player in the 21st century?" or "How can we in Europe flank change induced by globalisation?", UNICE launched a brochure entitled Crossing Frontiers at this year's Competitive-ness Day.

This brochure, which elaborates on the global dimension of Europe's competitiveness issues, was outlined during the presentation delivered by UNICE secretary general Philippe de Buck, who touched upon matters like the share of world FDI outflows, weak market applications for world-class scientists, gains from outsourcing due to flexibility, tariffs on industrial products, and carbon dioxide emission projections.

The booklet, which is available from the FOI secretariat, highlights that EU institutions should (i) make use of community policies and budget to support a competitiveness agenda; (ii) complete the internal market, including services; (iii) pursue an ambitious trade and investment policy and conclude a comprehensive WTO DDA agreement at the end of 2006; and (iv) ensure that internal and external policies are consistent and coherent.

The EU governments should (i) implement with determination the growth and jobs strategy through their national action plans; (ii) create the right framework for innovation and investment; (iii) modernise social systems and reform labour markets; and (iv) organise effective implementation of a life-long learning system.

At the end of the conference, the UNICE president stressed: "The key success factor for Europe is more entrepreneurship. An entrepreneurial mindset is by definition positive, constructive and most often optimistic. We entrepreneurs want to make this European Union a success."