ERT delegation meets Chancellor Nehammer

VIENNA, 6 September 2023: A delegation of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) met with Chancellor Nehammer in Vienna yesterday evening to discuss the best ways to enable and secure a renewed long-term industrial strategy for Europe.

ERT Members, comprising of CEOs and Chairs of some of the most significant industrial and technology companies in Europe, have long communicated their backing for the EU and the peace and prosperity that unity has provided for numerous decades. During this challenging period of economic constraint and political unrest, they exchanged views with the leaders on the most pressing challenges of the moment. As major employers, innovators and investors in European countries, industry seeks to contribute solutions.

The leaders exchanged on the following priority areas:

1. Strengthening Europe – Competitiveness & the Single Market*. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the dawn of the Single Market. ERT believes that this banner year is also the opportunity to invest fresh political capital in deepening the EU Single Market, across various parameters such as capital markets, energy, digital services, all of which would benefit European citizens and strengthen Europe’s place in the world.
2. Digital transition as a key pillar of Europe’s future success. Alongside established issues such as slow, fragmented 5G rollout, cloud computing, cybersecurity and data-sharing need attention if Europe is to be at the global forefront. Digital is also an enabler of efficiencies in energy consumption.
3. Green transition**: Guiding the shift to green energy during this period of rising prices so that the European Union’s Green Deal and industrial policy can still meet the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement without damaging the EU’s ability to compete. Delivering the energy union and boosting the production of clean electricity are two urgently required measures to address the risk of deindustrialisation currently facing Europe.

The need to advance energy transition is underlined by the implications of the current US Inflation Reduction Act which is incentivising unprecedented investment in North America’s green transition.

1. Innovation: With innovation now a key determinant of competitiveness, it’s time to rethink regulation and funding of this sector – refocusing on robust IP rights and standardisation and realising scale-up of investment-intensive innovation.
2. International dimension: Maintaining open strategic autonomy in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment and taking a strong position in the face of unfair behaviour.

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Note to Editors:

The names of the CEOs & Chairs in the ERT delegation are listed on the page that follows.

* More information on ERT’s recently released publication Renewing the dynamic of European integration: Single Market Stories by Business Leaders is available here: https://ert.eu/single-market

** To find about the climate targets & projects under way at companies led by Members of ERT, visit https://industry4climate.eu

A full list of the membership of ERT is accessible here.