BusinessEurope’s EU Reform Barometer 2019 “Building an EU for European Businesses to succeed globally”, published on 20 March 2019, shows that the EU needs to do more to improve its competitiveness as EU growth has now been lower than US growth for 7 of the last 10 years. In addition, the Reform Barometer contains our annual survey of our member federations regarding progress on structural reform.

This year’s Reform Barometer looks in particular at how Europe is falling behind in its ability to develop world-leading firms.

We arrive at this conclusion for 3 reasons:

• None of the top 10 global companies by market capitalisation are European.
• Western Europe’s share of the top 10% of global firms in terms of profitability has dropped from 36% in the late 1990s to 24% now.
• Finally, when considering large high-growth firms/’unicorns’ (start-ups that have reached 1 billion dollar market value within a short timeframe), the EU has not matched other regions when it comes to developing such firms, with the number and average value of unicorns in the EU significantly smaller than those in the USA and China.

Against this background it is concerning that, according to our survey of member federations, governments have failed to step up their reform efforts.  Our member federations consider that member states have satisfactorily implemented only 20% of the essential reforms agreed with the EU.

Detailed assessments by national member federations of progress on the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) issued by the European Commission for Greece can be downloaded below.

The world is changing rapidly and profoundly as global alliances shift and populism rises. What we are witnessing is not just another era of change but a change of era. Business wants to be part of the solution and ensure that Europe can shape this new era according to its values.

Today, the European business community presents its Ambition for the European Union in 2030. In this paper we set out what is needed to create the right conditions to enhance competitiveness and enable business to play its role in society.

BusinessEurope President Pierre Gattaz said:

“In the view of the European elections, the business community has a strong responsibility to speak up, explain why the European Union is so important for people’s future and to say what needs to be done to ensure that things are going in the right direction.

Companies are the backbone of Europe’s economic stability and people’s prosperity. Entrepreneurs invest, create jobs and make the economy grow. The private sector accounts for 80% of all jobs in the EU; companies in the EU invested almost €200 billion in research and development in 2016; in 2015, companies spent more than €50 billion on vocational training in the EU.

Business is committed to transforming the economic, social, technological, and environmental challenges we are facing into opportunities and defend our European way of life. Let’s together build an EU we can be proud of. The business ambition for Europe in 2030 is to build a European Union with opportunities for all.“

“Fulfilling our Potential – Shaping our Future” #SEV4Growth

Public event of SEV’s General Assembly  |  Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, Alexandra Trianti Hall  |  Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, 19:30 (ΕΕΤ)  

Discussion:

• Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
• Mr. Dimitri Papalexopoulos, Chairman of SEV

Moderation: Nicky Lyberaki, Journalist