The Walloon Minister for the Economy, Jean-Claude Marcourt today chaired the informal meeting of the Industry Ministers at Louvain-la-Neuve
The Industry Ministers’ meeting opened with a speech by Michel Wurth, Arcelor Mittal’s CEO for Europe. His speech focused on the globalisation of the economy and its impact on value chains and the competitiveness of the European Union. The subjects discussed by the Ministers and delegations related, in particular, to the European Union’s new industrial policy.
European businesses will clearly be affected by this Community initiative. It will include policies aimed at re-establishing the competitiveness of European industry and SMEs. More specifically, the Ministers called for SMEs to have better access to international markets. It should not be forgotten that SMEs account for over 90% of production units and 59% of industrial labour. Attempts to move beyond local and European markets pose a challenge for their competitiveness.
Other measures called for by the Ministers are the simplification of red tape for SMEs and for there to be no increase in costs as a result of the transition to a green economy.
This is part of the new 2020 EU strategy for employment and growth. Minister Jean-Claude Marcourt intends to do all he can to ensure that this policy actively supports the efforts being made to recover from the crisis and restore the competitiveness of the economy in the longer term.
The transformation of European industry in the context of globalisation must be regarded as an opportunity and not a constraint. This means that particular attention needs to be paid to access to commodities and natural resources, which is one of the strengths of Europe’s international competitors
During the informal meeting of the Industry Ministers, questions were raised about the measures to be taken at European level to support the transition, facilitate access by SMEs to external markets and develop new forms of cooperation between the different policy levels.
