Brussels, 16/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European employers are urging the Commission to present a roadmap for industrial competitiveness. They are also calling for the role of the high-level working group on growth and competitiveness to be reinforced.
Roadmap. In a letter to the Latvian Presidency on 16 January in which it details the priorities of the business world, BusinessEurope stresses the importance of a fully-fledged roadmap for the competitiveness of European industry. The association is calling for this strategic document to be presented ahead of the spring European summit (19 and 20 March) and stresses that the EU must move towards “real actions” to meet the target of at least 20% of European GDP generated by industry.
The association recommends that European governance be stepped up in this regard and that all measures proposed or modified in the future are considered in light of their impact on competitiveness. To this end, BusinessEurope hopes that the Competitiveness Council will remain vigilant and work more closely with the high-level group on growth and competitiveness. BusinessEurope also wants this group to be involved in the preparations for the Competitiveness Council and calls for it to have a permanent elected chair.
Small Business Act. BusinessEurope also referred in its letter to the Small Business Act, the revision of which is to be presented following the roadmap. The association stresses that access to funding for SMEs needs to be improved, along with innovation and internationalisation. The Commission is currently examining hundreds of responses to its public consultation on the Small Business Act, which closed in mid-December. (MD)