Key messages

• Business opposes the weaponisation of the sanctions policy and the use of such measures to pursue economic interests. Sanctions are designed specifically to enforce the respect of international law to counter fundamental threats to peace and stability and the protection of human rights and must be limited to these core purposes.
• We welcome the political attention to this matter and support a more assertive approach by the EU to protect its sovereignty in economic diplomacy. Unilateral measures that risk escalation with third countries should remain an option of last resort and multilateral approaches should be actively sought where possible. Especially with the USA as our traditional ally, the main aim must remain to achieve alignment on sanctions policies and implementation. A close cooperation regarding sanctions should also be established with the UK as part of the future relation.
• The aim must be to deter harmful action by third countries and, if necessary, to increase the costs for such harmful action. To do so, the toolbox needs to be better equipped with well-targeted, non-discriminatory, and well workable and implementable solutions. In the current absence of an effective mechanism, EU companies are caught between a rock and a hard place.
• The EU, together with its allies, should take international leadership on this issue leveraging on its economic and political weight. The EU should insist on a multilateral strategy as this will increase the political strength of the argument.

Read our position paper: Recommendations to strengthen the EU foreign economic diplomacy in the area of sanctions

On May 21–22, the President of the Executive Committee of SEV, Ms. Rania Aikaterinari, participated in the BusinessEurope Presidents’ Conference, which represents 42 national associations from 36 countries and more than 20 million companies.

During the Conference, the presidents of the employers’ organisations of the national associations exchanged views with Minister for European Affairs Thomas Byrne regarding the priorities of the Irish Presidency of the EU Council, which begins in July 2026. Greece will assume the Presidency exactly one year later, in July 2027.

Among the key topics discussed — and aligned with SEV’s policy agenda — was the need to:

• Create the appropriate conditions for the implementation of the Clean Industrial Deal, which, beyond ensuring predictable and competitive energy prices and security of supply, also includes the reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) with stronger safeguards against carbon leakage, namely more realistic benchmarks, and a more gradual phase-out of free allowances.
• Intensify efforts to simplify and reduce regulatory burden, including discussions on recently adopted legislations such as the Pay Transparency Directive.
• Strengthen strategic autonomy in key sectors while preserving the openness of the European economy.

Given that the next EU budget for 2028–2034 will feature prominently on the political agenda, for SEV it remains a priority to:

• Ensure that the Competitiveness Fund provides equal participation opportunities for countries on Europe’s periphery, with the aim of improving their integration into European value chains and strengthening the EU overall.
• Secure adequate funding for cross-border transport connectivity, including missing links and structural bottlenecks that affect the continuity, capacity, and resilience of the transport network.
• Reinforce defense cooperation within the EU, based on the SAFE rationale and a European preference clause in production.

Europe’s competitiveness agenda requires ambition, realism, and stronger alignment between policy and industrial priorities. The business community has an essential role to play in shaping a more resilient and competitive Europe.

Read the Dublin Declaration here.

The European business community fully supports the measures taken so far and calls on the European Commission, the Council and the European Central Bank to do whatever it takes to make sure that as many businesses as possible survive this crisis and can help rebuild our economy and protect our European way of life once the health crisis caused by COVID-19 is overcome.

We support the measures necessary to contain the further spreading of COVID-19. Public health is the first priority. Our sympathies are with the families already affected. We express our gratitude to the workers and businesses who are showing exceptional courage and resilience, both to treat the sick and to maintain the vital goods and services we all depend upon.

This crisis is not only a major challenge for public health but will also have substantial negative impact on EU growth in 2020, with the likelihood of a large number of EU member states experiencing a significant or in some cases even massive downturn. Workers and companies, especially SMEs, are already suffering dramatically from the necessary restrictive measures which have been put in place.

Protecting our society will require extraordinary responsibility, action and solidarity from all parties, said Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope:

• Responsibility as businesses, workers and citizens, to ensure everything we do helps address this crisis.
• Action, both to maintain the essential functioning of our economy in the immediate future and to ensure that once the spread of the virus is addressed, we have maintained the business eco-system vital to fully restoring our treasured European way of life.
• Solidarity between businesses of all sizes, between businesses and governments and between all EU member states.