UNICE adopts spirit of Gulliver

Date: 06/11/03

ITALIAN premier Silvio Berlusconi is due to meet more than 400 of Europe's top business people at a conference in Brussels next week aimed at identifying ways to boost the EU's competitiveness.

Jürgen Strube, president of the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the organizers of the "competitiveness day" event, predicts that the delegates will have a simple message for EU leaders - cut the red tape.

The motif chosen for the 14 November conference shows Captain Lemuel Gulliver, the character who was created by 18th-century author Jonathan Swift. In Gulliver's Travels, the eponymous hero is tied down by the tiny natives of Lilliput.

"European companies are like Gulliver: if they are freed from all kind of hindrances they will once more become a world giant," said Strube.

"All of us feel that Europe could do much better; every day we experience many handicaps to developing the business. If constraints are taken away, costs are reduced, rules are changed, we could do much more in Europe and in the world than is the case now."

Other high-level figures taking part in the comference include Nicole Fontaine, French industry minister, Dick Roche, Irish European affairs minister, and Commissioners Erkki Liikanen (enterprise and information society) and Loyola de Palacio (energy and transport).

Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) members, under the auspices of the Italian Presidency, came together to demonstrate their commitment to increasing European competitiveness during the Competitiveness Day on 14 November 2003 in Brussels. Around the leitmotiv 'Release companies' potential, free Gulliver!', business leaders from all over Europe discussed challenges and solutions for improving the competitiveness of European companies.