Brussels, 01/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - European business leaders are expecting the economic situation to improve in 2015.
A survey carried out this autumn among 60,000 business leaders by the European Chamber of Commerce, EUROCHAMBRES, confirmed a level of “cautious optimism” regarding next year.
According to the EUROCHAMBRES' economic survey, business confidence is continuing to recover and will stabilise at almost 11 points for 2015 in Europe, as opposed to 7 points this year. This index fell to -31 in 2009 and -8 in 2012, the worst moments of the crisis.
Eurochambres, however, puts a certain dampener on this confidence because it varies from one region to the other across Europe. The European Chamber of Commerce notes, for example, a “more sombre” forecast from German business leaders, whilst the outlook is described as more “buoyant” in the Iberian peninsula.
Business leaders are also more cautious about exports next year because they are concerned about the current geopolitical tension Europe is currently experiencing. Nonetheless, there is a lot of hope regarding domestic sales, even if internal demand is still considered as a challenge. Employment prospects for European businesses have been revised slightly upwards, whilst investment is seen to be stable.
In light of these indicators, the president of EUROCHAMBRES, Richard Weber, underlined the distorted effects of the current situation, “investment won't improve unless sales increase and employment won't rise without more investment”. He believes that the EU has a role to play in changing this dynamic. The European Chamber of Commerce believes that decision-makers should create the appropriate conditions for implementing the services directive, adopting conclusions on smart SME-friendly regulation and embrace the risk-taking philosophy contained within the Investment Plan. EUROCHAMBRES is also very much counting on the revision of the Small Business Act at the beginning of next year. (MD)