Lisbon, 22/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Presidents of Unice met on Wednesday in anticipation of the European Council and met Portuguese Prime Minister Mr. Guterres who will be chairing the Council. Unice President George Jacobs told Mr. Guterres: industrialists and employers in general "will assess the Lisbon Summit not on its declarations, but on the concrete actions and implementation of policies by national governments afterwards". Unice will continue to make its contribution to the reforms and invites EU decision-makers to a dialogue with European entrepreneurs, the opportunity for beginning this being the first European Business Summit, in Brussels on 9 and 10 June.
Unice reaffirms that the reforms business expects must be "prompt and complete", and aimed at encouraging the creation of businesses, facilitating cross-border activities and lightening fiscal and administrative burdens. The European single market must be complete by 2002, by eradicating constraints weighing on the development of the information society, the digital economy and electronic commerce. Financial services need liberalising urgently, the rigidities of the labour market done away with, and there needs to be improved access to venture capital.