ERT Milestones
Neither a business lobby group nor a think tank, ERT has consistently sought to wake up policy makers to looming problems and to sow the seeds of ideas for their solution. The quality of its ideas and proposals has steadily acquired a reputation for first-rate analysis and intelligent argument. This has enabled ERT to become a key interlocutor in the debate on European competitiveness by providing thoughtful, well researched critiques of the status quo and considered recommendations for future action.
ERT was an early entrant into the debate on how to tackle Europe’s problem of jobless growth in the mid-1980s, was among the first to call for a continent-wide vision of transport infrastructure, persistently campaigned for high-quality education and training, consistently favoured the adoption of International Accounting Standards and has repeatedly set out the arguments for pensions reform, liberalisation of utilities and a flexible employment market.
ERT’s “core business” since the mid-1980s has been securing the development and implementation of the European Single Market programme. Jacques Delors, past President of the European Commission (1985–1995) and one of the key advocates of the Single Market, has publicly recognised the important role played by ERT in this area. Today, the organisation maintains a sharp vision of the Single Market structure needed to offer economies of scale and competitiveness in the global market. Therefore, it continues to argue for the elimination of the still-powerful obstacles that prevent business securing the full benefits of the Single Market. For example it has campaigned vigorously for a Community patent system and an end to fragmented national regulations that frustrate efforts towards entrepreneurship and innovation.
ERT’s first competitive priority was infrastructure. Its 1984 report, “Missing Links”, proposed three major infrastructure projects: Euro-Route – a Channel link between England and France, Scanlink – a plan to fill in the road and rail gaps between Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Northern Germany; and proposals for a trans-European network of high-speed trains. It would be exaggerated to claim sole credit for these projects, but the ERT report, presented first to the media in the United Kingdom, certainly contributed to the ongoing discussion and later to the realisation of all three projects in modified form.
The Treaty of Maastricht and its timetable for a European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was welcomed by ERT, as it regarded a single currency as a necessary pillar for the Single Market and a means to reduce the cost of doing business. Members were active in encouraging the successful implementation of the Maastricht timetable based on the adoption of the euro as the single currency in 1999 and the introduction of euro notes and coins in 2002.
ERT is widely credited with raising awareness amongst senior EU officials of the importance of economic and business competitiveness to growth, employment and prosperity. In 1995 – in response to a suggestion from ERT – the European Commission created a Competitiveness Advisory Group. Throughout its existence, this Group had a significant influence on the development of the European competitiveness agenda.
Employment issues have also been given continuous attention by ERT. Job creation goes hand-in-hand with competitiveness and the social policy framework. However, ERT has also focused on micro measures, particularly for encouraging job creation among small and mediumsized companies through practical partnerships between large and small businesses.
ERT Members contributed to the preparation of the Lisbon Agenda, which sought to make Europe the "most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world" by the year 2010. But the implementation of the Agenda was less impressive than the declarations made at its adoption by the European Council in March 2000. ERT Members constantly stressed the need for better performance by national governments towards achieving the Lisbon targets within a specified timeframe that otherwise risked remaining beyond Europe’s grasp. In subsequent years, ERT regularly contributed to the debate on how to ensure better implementation of the Lisbon Agenda across all EU Member States, including on ways to foster innovation and achieve higher industry investment in Research & Development in Europe.
ERT Members have long appreciated the benefits of EU enlargement both for the accession countries and for the existing Member States in terms of peace, stability and future prosperity. ERT consistently supported the expansion of the Union, actively contributing to the process leading to the accession of ten new Member States in May 2004, by advocating strict implementation of the EU acquis by the acceding countries. ERT argued that this was an essential pre-condition to ensure the integrity of the Single Market, and thus the competitiveness of the entire European economy. ERT Members continue to support further accessions to the EU once candidate countries truly fulfil the necessary criteria.
As leaders of multinational companies, ERT Members appreciate the benefits of global trade within a multilateral rules-based system. ERT thus supported the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) trade negotiations, regularly underlining the business interest in their conclusion. ERT Members were particularly aware of the dynamic developments in other economies around the globe. By sharing companies’ global experience in other parts of the world with EU policy makers, ERT sought to create a better understanding of how EU policy actions could ensure that Europe remained competitive while building mutually beneficial economic relationships with other regions. Thus, ERT addressed the EU’s foreign economic relations with the United States, Russia and China and also expressed its concern of growing economic nationalism, including within the European Union. ERT supported an ambitious European Neighbourhood Policy as a win-win approach to gradually enlarging the EU’s Single Market.
Having contributed actively to the discussions on the future of Europe in the European Convention, with a particular focus on the ’’’governance of Europe’’’, in particular in view of ensuring fast and effective decision-making in all areas related to business, ERT Members were concerned at the rejection of the proposed Constitutional Treaty in May 2005 in referenda in France and the Netherlands. This rejection led to a greater focus on communications in ERT activities.
Important competitiveness issues were raised in the debate on the response to Climate Change. ERT actively engaged in the debate on how the EU should respond to climate change, and continued to be active in the international debate on the issue, including the Copenhagen Conference (December 2009) and its aftermath.
ERT Members also identified the negative competitiveness implications of a future skills gap in the area of maths, science and technology, and proposed that the issue needed to be addressed at a sufficiently early age by fostering the interest of young people in mathematics as well as scientific and technological subjects. In some EU countries, national initiatives existed to foster interest and showcase real-life company examples of careers in these areas to young people. ERT believed that these initiatives should be scaled up and serve as examples for similar activities in other EU countries. To support this, ERT promoted the creation of a European Coordinating Body that shares best practice across the EU. The European Coordinating Body - branded as "InGenious" has now been established in partnership with European Schoolnet (an association of European Ministries of Education) along with a number of national initiatives.
As the global economic crisis – the worst ERT Members had ever experienced – hit Europe in autumn 2008, ERT rapidly raised policy makers’ awareness of the gravity of the situation. Governments took drastic measures to stave off the crisis first in the financial sector, and later in the ‘real economy’. The crisis exacerbated the EU’s existing competitiveness challenge, while temporarily disorientating political and business leaders. In order to contribute to the formulation of a coherent way ahead, ERT developed a Vision for a competitive Europe in 2025, for publication at the time a new European Commission entered into office (February 2010).
Read more about this topic: European Round Table Of Industrialists