“Europe retains many world-leading firms but Europe’s performance in developing more of them is insufficient. Since 2010, the EU has created only 29 Unicorns with market valuations of more than $1 Billion compared to 139 in the USA and 81 in China”, BusinessEurope President Pierre Gattaz said at a press breakfast ahead of the EU summit and the Tripartite Social Summit. He warned: “Europe today is home to only 24% of the global economy’s most profitable firms, compared to 36% in the late 1990s.” The EU should better support its companies in their efforts to invest, innovate, create jobs and upgrade labour skills. Presenting our Reform Barometer 2019, he indicated governments had failed to step up their reform efforts. Only 20% of essential economic reforms recommended by the EU would have been properly implemented. In view of the European elections in May 2019, BusinessEurope together with its EU Social Partners ETUC, CEEP and SMEunited published a joint statement, underlining that “the EU project has to remain resilient and strong and we, the European Social Partners, believe that it can continue to help us to face our challenges and design a brighter future for Europe, its citizens, workers and enterprises”. See also our business message for the 2019 European elections.

Business leaders from major world economies met in Delhi, India, on 11 and 12 February and agreed that trade and digitalisation should remain top priorities for the international business community in 2019. "Business is very concerned by increasing trade tensions around the world and unilateral actions that are threatening the multilateral trading system and the WTO", said Markus J. Beyrer, BusinessEurope Director General. Digitalisation, he added, enables trade and brings new business opportunities for many companies, especially SMEs in manufacturing and services sectors. "We need rules and standards that support the digital economy and address increasing threats like cybercrime. We must be aware of measures that limit data flows and promote forced data localisation", Beyrer said. Read more

“By eliminating tariffs on green tech and boosting collaborative research, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is one of the first free-trade agreements (FTAs) that can clearly demonstrate what is achievable for two major economies that strive for ambitious climate targets while remaining internationally competitive”, said BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer at an event focused on discussing the potential of the EU-Canada trade deal in addressing climate change. He made his remarks amidst Mauro Petriccione, Director General of the  European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action, Patricia Fuller, Ambassador of Canada for Climate Change, as well as several speakers of industry and civil society. Beyrer explained that the potential benefits of CETA are also global: “The increased competition and know-how between our companies can help them export zero and low-carbon technologies across the world. CETA can also function as a reference for future FTAs between other countries”, he added. © photo: 2019 — GIZ