- Securing Europe’s Place in a New World Order
Leaders of Europe’s top companies commit to restoring EU competitiveness by backing full implementation of Draghi and Letta reports
Madrid, 18 November 2024: The European Round Table for Industry (ERT) met in Madrid yesterday and today for its annual autumn plenary. Hosted by José-María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman & CEO of Telefónica and chaired by ERT Chair, Jean-François van Boxmeer, the meeting brought together over 50 CEOs and Chairs of major European companies¹ covering all sectors of industry and technology.
The meeting was honoured with interventions from His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, Teresa Ribera Rodríguez.
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Beginning his speech with some heartfelt words in memory of all the victims of the recent floods, the leader of Telefónica called for the recovery of Europe’s leadership.
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The plenary addressed the following issues:
- Restoring Europe’s competitiveness: these past months have delivered a steady drumbeat of announcements on the urgency of Europe’s competitiveness crisis. ERT continues to call for a much more holistic approach to competitiveness and renewed urgency in the implementation of the Draghi Report. Looking to the year ahead with a new European Commission entering office, ERT is working hard to provide input for the development of a Clean Industrial Deal, the Horizontal Strategy on Single Market and the simplification revolution.
- EU Single Market: ERT fervently advocates for renewed political commitment for the completion of the Single Market to overcome the fragmentation of the EU’s regulatory framework across Member States – as promoted by Enrico Letta and echoed by Mario Draghi. The demolition of obstacles should be the centrepiece of the upcoming new Horizontal Strategy on the Single Market in order to enable European companies to scale up faster.
- Capital Markets Union (CMU) / Savings and Investment Union (SIU): The lack of access to liquid capital markets in the EU is one of the biggest issues limiting European enterprises’ ability to attract investment. Following years of slow progress with the CMU, Enrico Letta recommends to fully integrate financial services and keep European private savings within the EU.
- Trade & Economic Security: Recent developments in international geopolitics are reshaping the dynamics between Europe, the US and China. It is critical for Europe to adjust to the new realities and devise a Foreign Economic Policy sharply focused on delivering growth opportunities and competitiveness for European businesses. This includes opening markets around the world while tackling distortive market practices and ensuring a level playing field. In doing so, the EU should focus on addressing critical economic dependencies that can be weaponised, while avoiding protectionism.
- Overhauling Competition Policy & State Aid Rules: The modernisation of the EU’s competition policy must be aimed at supporting companies in becoming more competitive, including by scaling up in global markets and ensuring they have incentives and capacity to invest, innovate and grow. The EU’s approach to merger control must be more forward looking and more strongly consider objectives such as competitiveness, sustainability and resilience. In order to deliver a successful green and digital transition, a boost to public and private funding will be critical. The EU should leverage public-private partnerships, a strong EU Competitiveness Fund, as well as more effective Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs).
- Addressing the Skills gap: ERT is a vocal supporter of the effort to build a culture of lifelong learning and reskilling in Europe – as evidenced by its reskilling programme, R4E. Our engagement has moved up a gear with the recent launch of the New Career Network². This new technology and AI-powered digital platform is specifically designed to empower the reskilling process for jobseekers and companies. It is now up and running in Spain and Portugal and can be rolled out elsewhere at minimal cost to companies.
Coming soon
The results of The Conference Board’s latest independent semi-annual economic confidence survey of the CEOs & Chairs in ERT are due be released in the week beginning 25 November.
The survey results include important new findings on the impact of the Draghi & Letta reports on business confidence and investment decisions in Europe, sentiment on economic confidence, investment and competitiveness.
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Note to Editors:
¹ The names of the ERT Members in attendance at the meeting in Madrid are in the PDF of the release downloadable above.
A full list of the membership of ERT is accessible https://ert.eu/members/
² find out more by visiting NewCareerNetwork.eu
This meeting has provided ERT with the opportunity to commit to restoring European competitiveness as outlined by the Draghi and Letta reports. What needs to be done is clear. The EU institutions can count on our full support to the get implementation job done. Our companies want to build and be powerful sources of growth, jobs and innovation to help Europe thrive and prosper. ERT had laid the foundations to help transform the European economy in the next four years and recover the competitiveness lost at a global level, by realising the untapped potential of our Single Market.”
It is necessary and urgent to work together to refocus our common objective. We are at a key moment, in which Europe needs a new industrial strategy that - as Mario Draghi has rightly stated - places connectivity as a cornerstone in the creation of a stronger economy and a safer, more digital, less dependent and more sustainable continent. This, without forgetting Europe's challenge of ensuring the progress and well-being of its citizens, for which the employability and reskilling of people is critical