The CEOE sets out the business priorities in the context of the energy crisis at the Tripartite Social Summit in Brussels
The president of the CEOE expressed concern among the business community about the slowing of the recovery due to rising production costs and the high degree of uncertainty.
The president of the CEOE and vice-president of BusinessEurope, Antonio Garamendi, conveyed to the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fialia, the concern among the business community about the slowness of recovery due to rising production costs and the high degree of uncertainty, as well as the increased financial costs, which harm companies, in particular SMEs.
In his speech at the Tripartite Social Summit, which was held the day before the European Council and focused on the current European socio-economic situation and the energy and cost-of-living crisis, Antonio Garamendi stressed the importance of “continuing to move forward together and decisively” in responding to Russian aggression in Ukraine and measures to mitigate its impact on the economy. He therefore stressed “that social interlocutors are key.”
The president of the CEOE also stressed the flexibility and ease of access to European recovery funds, and urged that measures be implemented to improve the efficiency of public spending by avoiding tax increases and implementing the reforms required to ensure the sustainability of public finances.
Regarding the situation with the energy market, he argued that “exceptional situations require exceptional measures,” but that emergency measures must be strictly temporarily, closely monitored, and, once the crisis is over, the market must return to operating normally as quickly as possible. Moreover, he stressed that the new tax measures being rolled out should be restricted and contribute to alleviating the effect of prices on the most affected households and industrial sectors, and should avoid distortions among the Member States.
This approach was supported by the Director General of BusinessEurope, Markus Beyrer, who urged policymakers to use all tools at their disposal to fight inflation and prevent a deep recession with many job losses, beginning with focusing immediate attention on the energy market. Moreover, he conveyed the business community’s wish for the European Council to adopt the necessary measures regarding the energy crisis and that the European institutions should work together to alleviate the legislative burdens on companies.
What is the Tripartite Social Summit?
The Tripartite Social Summit is the highest-level forum for dialogue among the European institutions and European social interlocutors, including BusinessEurope; it is also attended by national social interlocutors and government representatives, according to the rotation of the presidency of the Council of the EU, in this case, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Spain.
Besides the aforementioned participants, other attended included the following:
European Commission:
- Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for an Economy that Works for People
- Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights
Sweden:
- Eva Nordmark, Minister of Employment and Gender Equality,
Spain:
- Yolanda Díaz Perez, Second Vice-President and Minister of Employment and Social Economy
- Joaquín Perez Rey, Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy
Employers (in addition to BusinessEurope and CEOE):
- Pascal Bolo, President, SGI Europe
- Valeria Ronzitti, Secretary General, SGI Europe
- Petri Salminen, President of SMEunited
- Veronique Willems, Secretary General, SMEunited
- Martin Jahn, Member of the Management Committee of the Czech Confederation of Industry
- Mattias Dahl, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Business Confederation
- Luc Frieden, President of Eurochambres
Trade unions:
- Luca Visentini, Secretary General of ETUC
- Maxime Legrand, President of CEC European Managers
- Lucie Studnicna, International Secretary of CMKOS
- Torbjörn Johansson, LO Negotiating Secretary
- Vicecente Sánchez Jimenez, Confederal Secretary of CCOO
- Luc Triangle, IndustriAll Europe general secretary
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