Brussels, 09/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - Europe has all it needs to be competitive, but, if it is to do so, it will have to change and do something about it. How? This is what representatives of the European employer organisation (UNICE) explained to the press on Thursday 9 September, in a presentation of their document entitled "Business Vision for Europe: Growth, Jobs and Prosperity ... for our Future". In this document, which was written in close collaboration between all member federations of UNICE, the organisation explains the challenges faced by Europe, the political priorities it must concentrate on; and what it calls for most of all is for competitiveness to be the focus. "The reforms we are proposing are based on a fundamental concept: give as much freedom as possible to the citizens, entrepreneurs, innovators, universities, etc", said UNICE president Jürgen Strube in his introductory speech. "Economic freedom is the basis for the welfare of our future generations", he added, reiterating that "Europe needs growth, jobs and prosperity". Against a backdrop of change at European institutional level (new Commission, new EP), but also of the mid-term revision of the Lisbon strategy, President Strube pointed out the challenges to be faced by Europe in order to become more competitive: globalisation, the ageing population, lack of dynamism, enlargement.
Presenting the future political priorities of the employer organisation, the president of the French employers' association (MEDEF), Ernest-Antoine Seillère stressed the need to: 1) encourage entrepreneurship: UNICE calls for the EU action plan on entrepreneurship to be implemented, and for the conditions to be created for the smooth running of companies (reducing taxation, making access to funding easier, reducing bureaucracy); 2) making environmental policy more effective and more operational, by revising current EU policy on climate change, if the international situation remains unfavourable to the Kyoto Protocol, and with a clear assessment of all the possible consequences of the REACH proposal; 3) developing innovation, by adopting a Community patent which answers the needs of the users. The employers call for this to be established in just one language, English; 4) making an internal market of over 25 States reality: remedying the deficit in transpositions of the so-called "Lisbon" directives (over 25%), which is unacceptably high, and adopting the directive on services, which should be taken as a priority in the new political cycle, says UNICE; 5) improving the functioning of the employment markets: UNICE calls for a moratorium on all EUsocial legislation which imposes extra obligations on business; 6) encouraging trade and international investment: the EU should not curtail its ambitions in terms of access to industrial markets, says UNICE. Ernest-Antoine Seillère "thanked Commissioner Pascal Lamy for his excellent work on this issue".
Jacques Schraven, president of VNO-NCW (Dutch employers' association) expects much from the new Wim Kok report on the mid-term revision of the Lisbon strategy. "I hope that in the manner of the first report, 'Jobs, Jobs, Jobs', this one will be called 'Competitiveness, Competitiveness, Competitiveness', because that is what we must concentrate on. This will call for better governance, better rules and better communication", said the Dutch employer. On behalf of UNICE, Mr Schraven welcomed the decision of President designate Barroso to give Commissioner Günter Verheugen the job of co-ordinating policies affecting competitiveness and the role of the Commission within the Competitiveness Council, which may take up all of his job of evaluating all policies in relation to competitiveness. UNICE, President Strube concluded, hopes that "the new group of Commissioners on the Lisbon strategy will be a small, effective group which does not lose sight of Europe's real needs: growth, jobs, prosperity". In this spirit, he added, UNICE and its members will give President designate Barroso their full support in putting into place what he called "a partnership for Europe".
Answering questions from a few journalists, Jürgen Strube pointed out that UNICE supported the creation of a common corporate tax base (see EUROPE of 9 September, p.12, for the details). He said that UNICE "is very much in favour of the Stability Pact as it stands", i.e. "sufficiently flexible". Commission spokesperson Gerassimos Thomas commented on this reflection an hour later: "With its proposed measures to adjust the Stability Pact, the Commission had hoped to open the debate transparently. We need everyone's opinion. I share UNICE's view, because the proposals aim to reinforce the flexibility of the Pact. The interpretation given to our proposals vary. This means we have pitched correctly", he added, stressing: "The Commission has not proposed any relaxing of the Pact, but rather to improve it, by bringing in economic parameters" (for other reactions, see EUROPE of 9 September, p.14).