Brussels, 16/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a letter to Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek ahead of their meeting in Prague on Monday 16 February 2009, the president of BusinessEurope, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, voiced the concerns of European entrepreneurs over four key areas: improving companies' access to funding; implementing effective recovery measures; speeding up reform; and resisting any form of protectionism.
BusinessEurope is calling for full implementation of the European recovery plan and its €5 billion funding for energy interconnection and high speed internet (both still blocked at EU Council level). Governments and central banks should explore options for setting up temporary systems to buy up treasury bills and other types of loan directly from companies, notes the European employers' association.
Some sections of the EU's Energy and Climate package still need to be defined, it argues, like defining the industries vulnerable to carbon leakage. Welcoming the action by the Commission and the Czech Presidency to settle the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia, Seillière says in his letter that the lessons of the crisis have to be learned and the second EU action plan on energy policy has to be discussed at the EU's Spring summit.
On trade, there is disappointment at the deadlock in the Doha Trade Round negotiations. The Transatlantic Economic Council needs to be brought back into action in order to set up a genuine free trade zone between the EU and the United States. The appointment of someone to represent the US President is urgently needed. (A.B./transl.fl)