| Author (Person) | King, Tim |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.43, 9.12.04 |
| Publication Date | 09/12/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Tim King Date: 09/12/04 THE European Union's biggest economies are undermining the drive to improve the Union's competitiveness, the European employers' organization UNICE will argue today (9 December). The failure to deliver on the EU's Lisbon Agenda will be the focus of UNICE's second annual competitiveness event, being held in Brussels. In a brochure setting out employers' priorities, UNICE highlights the deficit in transposing EU legislation on the single market, where Italy, Germany and France occupy three of the last five places among the 'old' EU-15. UNICE also picks out national failures to transpose seven pieces of legislation regarded as crucial to the Lisbon Agenda. Again, Germany and France figure prominently among the laggards. UNICE will be placing emphasis on the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness report which ranks Finland first, the US second, Sweden third and Denmark fifth. The UK, Netherlands and Germany occupy places 11-13. France comes in 27th. Philippe de Buck, UNICE secretary-general, admitted that the criticisms did create problems from national member organizations but he said the competitiveness day would also be urging business leaders to press for economic reform at national level. Luca Cordero de Montezemolo, president of the Italian member organization Confindustria, and chief executive officer of FIAT and Ferrari, will emphasize this point. He is expected to argue that the business community must create a positive atmosphere for reform. De Buck said that despite a lack of progress on the Lisbon Agenda, UNICE would be less aggressive in its approach to the EU institutions than it had been last year, to give the new Commission and the new Parliament a chance. At its 'Competitiveness Day' on 9 December 2004, the European Employers Organisation, UNICE, argued that the European Union's largest economies were undermining the drive to improve the Union's competitiveness. UNICE said that Germany, France and Italy were especially slow at transposing important legislation relating to the Internal Market and the Lisbon Agenda. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Business and Industry |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, France, Germany, Italy |
