#RebootingEurope: 3-day online series concludes with ‘enable businesses to drive Europe’s recovery’ message to EU Summit

Concluding the Rebooting Europe series of online events, EUROCHAMBRES President, Christoph Leitl, underlined to EU leaders meeting tomorrow the importance of an unambiguously business-friendly approach across all policy areas if the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is to gain and maintain momentum.

EUROCHAMBRES hosted six Rebooting Europe online events from 12-14 October, featuring contributions from a range of senior EU politicians and officials. The series concluded this afternoon with a high-level panel involving European Parliament Vice-President, Pedro Silva Pereira, State Secretary at the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, Claudia Dörr-Voß, Co-Chair of the European Parliament SME Intergroup, Angelika Winzig MEP, and Kim Jørgensen, Head of Cabinet of European Commission Executive Vice-President, Margrethe Vestager.

Building on the panellists’ remarks, President Leitl’s message was clear: “Enabling our businesses to fully revive their activities and rebuild demand is critical to Europe’s economic recovery and must be central to all policy decisions and measures for the months and years to come. EU leaders need to set the tone when they take stock of the situation tomorrow.”

Feedback from the chamber network during this week’s online series confirms the scale of the challenge confronting Europe’s businesses. Referring to the discussions on SME policy, trade, the single market, skills and sustainable finance, President Leitl underlined that EU policy-making and implementation must, more than ever, reflect the needs of Europe’s millions of businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“Many powerful levers for reviving the economy are in the hands of the EU institutions and they must be fully utilized. We need immediate actions to ease financial liquidity and ensure market access. Long-term policy aims like the twin transition also need to be based on realistic objectives, clear plans and effective measures if our businesses – especially SMEs – are to be in a position to drive the recovery process.”

More information on EUROCHAMBRES’ Rebooting Europe series of online events: https://bit.ly/Rebooting_Europe