A stronger and more competitive European economy was the focus of a panel discussion hosted by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SPCR) on the 19th of October. Charlotte Andersdotter, head of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s EU office was one of the panellists together with representatives from industry, the European Parliament, and the research field. The main messages from the panel were clear: the EU needs a more competitive agenda and more openness to trade partners that share our values; furthermore, R&D investment needs to be made wisely and for the long term.
Andersdotter underlined the need for an EU competitiveness agenda, “In our view, EU competitiveness should be at the heart of the EU agenda. Since the EU 2020, there has not been any focus on the competitiveness of European industry. This needs to change. We see five pillars as the foundation of a competitiveness agenda. First, the internal market – the crown jewel of Europe. Second, digitalisation. Third, transition towards green industry. Fourth, open and free trade is crucial, especially for Sweden as an open and small economy. However, it must be implemented without being naïve. And fifth, research and investment. We must not hamper investment and innovation in Europe.”
The moderator Milena ended the discussion with a three-point summary. There is no such thing as a free lunch and intelligent investment is needed: the EU needs to consider our trading partners in the context of “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. And lastly, the EU has to be united because together we stand, divided we fall.
In conjunction with the panel discussions, SPCR, Swedish Enterprise, and 10 other organisations and industry associations signed a letter to the co-legislators in which the signatories call on European leaders to ensure that European strategic resilience is based on wide and open co-operation with strategic partners who share the same European values. You can read the joint letter below.
Speakers:
Petr Očko - Deputy Minister for Digitalization and Innovation
Jan Míča - Head of European Digital Agenda Unit, Cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization
Moderator
Milena Jabůrková - Vice President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic
Panel
Ondřej Kovařík - Member of European Parliament
Charlotte Andersdotter- International Director and Head of EU-Office at Confederation of Swedish Enterprise
Hosuk Lee Makiyama - Director of European Centre for International Political Economy Digitalisation and Innovation
Stefanie Ellen Stündel - Senior Representative, BDI/BDA The German Business Representation
EUCompetitiveness