The French Association of Large Companies (Afep), which brings together 115 of the largest companies in France, aims to contribute to the development of an environment conducive to the development of economic activity for an "attractive, competitive and sustainable Europe".
Afep underlines the need for legislation geared towards competitiveness. In order to achieve this "paradigm shift", the association has formulated three major objectives, broken down into ten priority initiatives for European decision-makers in the forthcoming institutional cycle.
Enhance the attractiveness of EU territory. This objective aims to integrate the constraints on companies around the regulation of financial markets in order to "progress towards the union of capital markets". Investment incentives also include the creation of a long-term investor status and harmonisation of rules, such as tax relief and matching contributions, to achieve mutual recognition of national schemes.
French companies also believe that European attractiveness also depends on protecting European and foreign investment within the EU. At the intra-European level, they are calling for a clear legislative framework in response to the Achmea judgment (C-284/16) (see EUROPE 11975/18). They add that it is also necessary to develop a legislative framework or a European inter-state agreement, based on arbitration, "quickly".
On the tax front, Afep’s goal is to make Europe attractive and competitive. This is a reminder of the need to complete the work on the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB).
Competitiveness issues are also highlighted, in particular in the context of a modernisation of non-financial business reporting by the EU through standardisation, which should be promoted at international level. As a result, Afep also insists that the EU defend its own interests on the international scene, in particular in the field of company taxation (see EUROPE 12267/17).
Ensure a level playing field beyond the EU. Afep advocates further opening up of third country markets, but only if the EU can counter the potential restrictive effects of US and Chinese initiatives (in terms of sanctions and prohibitive ecosystem respectively). Positive conditionalities, included in bilateral trade agreements, are also highlighted (see EUROPE 12267/14).
Another way of ensuring a level playing field, according to Afep, is to take better account of the potential distortion of competition in third countries when assessing a merger between two companies.
Encourage investment in low-carbon technologies. In support of the Paris Climate Agreement, Afep believes that it is necessary to "scale an investment wall".
To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, it insists on the necessity of modernising the energy production system, which remains the main source of CO2 emissions, including a concerted needs assessment between decision-makers and companies to better respond to the calibration and financing of research & development and innovation.
Without ignoring the risks of competitive disadvantage outside the EU, it is proposed to establish an annual barometer of the EU's carbon footprint, including emissions from EU imports and global emission reductions from EU exports of low-carbon solutions.
See Afep’s ten recommendations: http://bit.ly/2WoXjOw (Martin Molko, intern)