EU businesses are falling behind their major competitors, BusinessEurope chief says

“We have a problem,” Beyrer tells FRANCE 24’s Armen Georgian. “Ninety percent of our members say that their business location is worse off than three years before. We see that more investment happens outside Europe than in Europe. We see that we are lagging behind in growth compared to our major competitors,” he explains.

“As far as growth is concerned, you know that Europe will grow by 0.5 percent this year, the US by 2.5 and China, of course, even higher,” Beyrer goes on. “But more importantly than this, if you look at the last 10 years, in seven out of these 10 years, the US growth was significantly larger than in Europe.”

Beyrer admits that the number one reason for the stagnant situation today is high energy prices. But he says that BusinessEurope’s members report a “regulatory tsunami” and “too much bureaucracy falling on our members in the last 10 years”. As an example, he cites the EU’s Corporate Due Diligence Directive (CDDD), which has added reporting requirements on companies.

“On the CDDD, we have always been ready to take up our responsibilities. But we have also said that the solutions need to be workable, and need to work for companies. And what we have on the table now – which is the result of the compromise that has been found in Europe a couple of weeks ago – is simply not workable, and imposes obligations on European companies in a unilateral way. The risk of that is that some companies might leave markets in Asia or in Africa.”

So is Beyrer implying that the answer is to push back on the EU’s various pieces of legislation aimed at protecting the environment, biodiversity and workers’ rights?

“Well, no, the solution is to find a balance in these pieces of legislation,” Beyrer says.

“We have always supported the Green Deal. And we have always supported the targets of the Green Deal,” he affirms. “But what we are saying is that we are losing out as far as global competitiveness is concerned, and therefore we will need to complement the Green Deal with an Industrial Deal.”

Beyrer explains what that Industrial Deal might look like. “We need to not only create the green jobs, but to green the whole industrial value chains, because we will only be successful if we are able to have successful value chains in Europe. So, to bring the windmills as an example, it’s very important that we invest in renewable energies. It’s important that we produce the technology. And it’s also important where the steel to produce these windmills comes from and where the turbines are produced.”

Programme prepared by Sophie Samaille, Perrine Desplats, Paul Guianvarc’h and Isabelle Romero