"The mood of entrepreneurs is not positive," warns President Vladimir Dlouhý. The President of Eurochambres said on Tuesday at the Forum Europa in Brussels that lack of competitiveness and high labour costs are the main problems facing the European economy at the moment.
Dlouhý made these statements during his participation in a meeting organised by the New Economy Forum in the European capital, where he gave a lecture that was presented by the President of the Federation of Belgian Chambers of Commerce, René Branders.
Branders praised the work carried out by Eurochambres for the preparation of the reports by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, which warn of the lack of competitiveness of the European economy and the need for regulatory simplification. In this regard, he warned of the lack of talent that threatens the Belgian economy, a problem that also occurs in the rest of the EU economies.
Dlouhý stated that Europe is experiencing its worst period regarding its economic strength since the 1960s and made a less than flattering diagnosis of the future of the continent. "Draghi's analysis is brutally clear, although the reality is even more gloomy", said Dlouhý, who blamed the members of the Parliament and the European Commission for their inaction all these months due to the European elections last June and the subsequent formation of the Parliament and the Commission.
"The world is burning, Europe is in decline and meanwhile the Commission and Parliament do nothing", denounced the president of Eurochambres, who assured that, while the United States solves its problems with investments, Europe suffers.
He also cited the 'Letta Report' by the former Italian Prime Minister to demand that the old continent take the creation of the single market seriously and create "a real one", without obstacles or interference between the different countries that make up the European Union. "We form a network that brings together 26 million small and medium-sized businesses, which provide growth, employment and we want their needs to be met by public servants", he said.
On the other hand, Dlouhý said that the mood of businesspeople "is not positive" and cited the lack of talent, the high labour costs borne by employers and the high bureaucratic burden as the three main problems. "Labour costs are reflected in inflation", he said, explaining that this rise also saturates social security systems.
On the problems of attracting talent, he mentioned the structural imbalances between supply and demand for employment in some European economies, the problem of ageing that the European continent is currently facing and the serious problems that many companies have in finding certain profiles. For this reason, the president of Eurochambres believes that the public administration should intervene to correct these imbalances with proposals such as a student curriculum tailored to the needs of European businesses. Dlouhý suggested that collaboration between companies and educational systems should be more proactive in order to adapt these future workers to the needs of companies.
Asked whether there is currently a shortage of "national champions" (large transnational companies) in Europe, he recalled that in order to create this type of company it is necessary to stimulate an ecosystem of start-ups that are capable of growing and becoming benchmarks for both the European and global economy.
Dlouhý also said that tourism, a sector that has generally welcomed low-profile workers, will be affected by other economic sectors, as is currently the case with the German automotive industry, which continues to decline.
"We should work actively to attract personnel to sectors with high added value", stressed Dlohuý, warning of the competition problems faced by this industry due to the push of the Chinese economy, although he was against tariffs on vehicles from this country and warned of possible wars that could increase in this line with the United States after Donald Trump's presidential victory.
Finally, in response to a question about a stable and competitive regulatory framework for companies regardless of their size, the President of Eurochambres pointed out that, although small and large companies have different priorities and objectives, they are all in the same boat.
