On 27 November, President Pierre Gattaz, Director General Markus J. Beyrer, three Vice-Presidents of BusinessEurope and 20 CEOs of its Advisory and Support Group gathered in Brussels and met EU leaders. The group exchanged views with Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Commissioner Cecilia Malmström on a wide range of issues, including EMU, current trade issues, the MFF and the Future of Europe.

We must avoid a chaotic Brexit

Today, at the meeting of BusinessEurope’s Council of Presidents in Vienna, BusinessEurope and its member federations urged the EU27 and the UK to adopt the proposed withdrawal agreement, including a status quo like transition period, with the UK temporarily staying in the Customs Union and the Single Market. Companies need certainty and a level playing field to mitigate the impact of Brexit on trade and investment. Ending up in a no deal situation will damage the economies in the UK as well as in the EU and is simply not an option. The whole European business community urges all parties to do everything possible to avoid a chaotic Brexit.

On 5 November, the European Parliament will vote on its interim report on the multiannual financial framework (MFF), also the Council must speed-up its work. Director General Markus J. Beyrer said: “All parties must work towards reaching a political agreement on MFF post-2020 before the European Parliament’s elections in May 2019. Failing to agree on the proposal by then can bring important consequences – a late agreement points to serious delays in the start of programmes in 2021, and a lost year of investment from the EU budget. Unfortunately, we have already faced this situation in the past. In the moment when all EU’s major competitors are putting forward aggressive strategies in terms of investment, we cannot risk delays in powerful investment incentives from the EU. All relevant decision-makers must understand the risks at stake during the negotiations.”