Brussels, 21/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the third Competitiveness Day, organised in Brussels on 20 October by the European employers' group UNICE, Ernest Antoine Seilliere, UNICE President, urged European leaders to rapidly take measures to get the EU out of the deadlock it's been in since the spring: 'When I was elected President of UNICE in March 2005 by the members, the European Union looked to be better on track for change. When I took office on 1 July, the mood was completely different: negative referendums, no agreement on the budget, economic growth lagging behind which makes the social system unsustainable, divergence on the integration of new members and the geographical limits of the Union. I call this a major crisis! And as it is a crisis, urgent measures will have to be taken. We, business leaders, fear that in this negative context fundamental elements of the European Union such as the internal market, the common commercial policy and even the single currency could be brought into question.'
UNICE calls on the British Presidency and the European Commission to take initiatives in four essential areas: 1) to quickly untangle the institutional imbroglio; 2) to send European citizens and business people a positive message from the Hampton Court Summit on 27 October: 'We support the social model but we do want reforms in the Member States to move away from 'job preservation' towards a 'job creation' mindset. Those who wish to defend the European Model will have to lead its reform by modernising their own national social system.' On the 'European Social Model', 'we believe that we have a model based on values combining growth and social progress in Europe that are declined in 25 social systems. But these values can only be sustainable if competitiveness is achieved.' At a press conference, Seilliere said he was disappointed at the first four months of the British Presidency, explaining that when UNICE met Tony Blair in London on 6 October, it had told him very clearly that he'd made a fantastic impression at the European Parliament when he had spoken about the social model and the future of Europe at the end of June. But UNICE also told him straight that since then he had not done much, nothing at all even, regretted Seilliere. 3) agreement on the budget (Financial Perspectives 2007-2013). 'We need a budget soon and we need a budget that really supports the Growth and Jobs strategy,' Seilliere told Jose Manuel Barroso before he made the concluding speech at the Competitiveness Day. Seilliere went on: 'Many business strategies have failed because the resources were not rightly allocated.' 4) 'My fourth issue touches on 'what is' and 'what has to be' the most important asset of Europe: its internal market… In the Better Regulation approach, you have taken a first courageous step forwards, this but not be the end of the process but the beginning of a long journey… Needless to say how badly we need an open market in services. We are hearing all kinds of misconceptions floating around on this dossier. The combination of the services directive and the posting of workers directive is the right policy mix.' UNICE is 'very worried about current developments' concerning REACH (the EU chemical regulation, see EUROPE 9053): 'The requests of companies for a more workable and affordable REACH project have not yet been sufficiently heard. Neither by some Commissioners nor by the UK Presidency nor by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament. We need coherence with the Growth and Jobs strategy.'
On the WTO negotiations, Seilliere said: 'Last Tuesday I went to Geneva and met with Pascal Lamy to make it very clear. UNICE is happy that things have started to move on the agricultural part of the round. It would not be acceptable, dangerous even for jobs and growth in Europe, if a deadlock in agriculture prevented open markets for the European companies in the field of industry and services.' Success in the Doha Round is vital for Europe, said Seilliere. If Hong Kong is a debacle, following on from the failure of the Seattle and Cancun Summits, then trade bilateralism could become the new rule in global trade and we do not want that. We favour multilateral global trade that is beneficial for all and stimulates growth and jobs in Europe, concluded Seilliere.
Josep Borrell says companies must face up to their responsibilities - Politics must be put back in economic policy
In a speech on the European Parliament's vision of globalisation and the opportunities it offers for EU citizens, Josep Borrell, President of the European Parliament, said that globalisation had provided the business world with new markets so business had benefitted from it, but did the business world reinvest these profits, he wondered. Borrell said people in Europe were very worried about job losses in heavy industry and the textile and footwear industries, for example. This was a question for industry as the producer of wealth, he said, but also for the state as the re-distributor of wealth. He said it was the duty of states, in collaboration with business, to soften this social shock and give globalisation a human face. He said dynamic policies had to be developed to accompany restructuring. People losing out because of globalisation must be helped. He added that these days it was not only economies that competed with one another, but also social systems. According to the World Economic Forum's '2005-2006 Global Competitiveness' report, the most competitive economies in the world right now are the United States, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore and Taiwan, said Borrell, pointing out that the experience of Scandinavia (competitive despite very high taxation and social security levels) showed that globalisation free marketeers' calls for less state control and less taxation were not as justified as some people would like to make out. What do competitive countries have in common?, asked Borrell, suggesting it was transparent and efficient public institutions, consensus on priority public spending, an innovative private sector that easily takes on new technology, and cleaned-up macro-economic climate. Borrell said that Europe in general was balancing on only one leg - how can there be a highly centralised monetary policy along with decentralised, un-coordinated economic policies? His final question was whether the eurozone's macroeconomic policies matched globalisation - surely politics must be put back into economic policy?