Brussels, 25/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The largest European employers' association, BUSINESSEUROPE, has welcomed the imminent presentation of the European Commission's investment plan, while stressing the benefits to the European economy of lifting the barriers to private investment.
The European employers are very much in favour of an investment plan whereby public funding out of the EU budget, combined with a specific EIB contribution, would cover most of the risks inherent to carrying out a project ('first loss approach'). This technique, which was previously used for the 'project bonds', will lead to a considerable leverage effect, whereby every euro in public money attracts 15 euros in private investments (EUROPE 11203). “You can generate quite a bit of money if you do things the right way”, said Markus J. Beyrer, director general of BUSINESSEUROPE.
The organisation believes that lifting barriers to private investment would lead to far more substantial long-term benefits than those anticipated from the “Juncker plan”. Beyrer also expects the Commission's work to include an initiative to this end. The European employers have many grievances: - removing economic and political uncertainty (reinforcing the implementation mechanisms for the structural reforms in exchange for extra time for certain countries to cleanse their public finances); - reducing costs (energy, tax on employment, inflexibility of the employment market); - increasing funding (revitalising the asset-backed securities markets, extending the scope of the EIB's action); - facilitating market access (deepening the digital single market and the single market for services, concluding trade agreements); - getting the public sector involved (removing red tape, clamping down on payment delays); - creating incentives to risk-taking (creation of an 'innovation principle' to add to the 'principle of precaution', including considerations related to competitiveness and investment in the competition policy). (MB)