Speaking from the Eurochambres Congress 2004 in Vienna today CCI President Mark Staunton said, the EU is continuing to lose competitiveness compared to the leading economies of the world. "While the Irish Presidency did represent significant effort to refocus this agenda, we are concerned that the sheer breadth of the Lisbon vision and the weakness of the Open Method of Co-ordination mean that we will continue to under perform against the US and Asia," he said.
"Europe's political leaders need to correct this untenable situation and make a fresh start. As part of a Europe-wide chamber campaign, the Prime Ministers of 29 European countries will each receive letters from their national chamber representatives highlighting the most urgent fields of action needed at national level to improve overall European competitiveness," he added.
CCI called on the Taoiseach to accelerate the pace of change in the state enterprise sector by reducing barriers to entry, facilitating freedom of establishment in the context of the internal market and taking whatever other measures are possible to promote increased competitiveness having regard to the small size and peripherality of the Irish market.
"Ireland must continue to build on successful initiatives in regard to research collaboration and the establishment of world class centres of excellence but with an increased emphasis on commercialisation of scientific research and the promotion of closer links with the indigenous SME sector. And our third recommendation is that the Government must move to implement the next generation of E-Government applications to deliver real savings for business and citizens alike," he said.
Quelle: Business World, 21.10.2004
