These expectations are tempered by Belgium’s uncertain political situation and the challenges caused as the EU beds into its revised role under the Lisbon Treaty. This should, in the view of Chambers, encourage the presidency to focus its energy specifically on achieving tangible progress in a small number of key areas.
From a business perspective, the EU Patent is a prime candidate for this focused approach. The way that the presidency handles the Commission’s new proposal for a regulation governing the EU patent translation requirements could finally drag this long saga over the finishing line.
The launch of the External Action Service should also be seized as an opportunity to establish the EU as a credible partner around the globe. In today’s global competition, enhanced economic diplomacy is a must, and EUROCHAMBRES calls for a public private partnership to be successful in this regard.
From a Chamber perspective, the pivotal date in Belgium’s six month tenure will be 14 October, when EUROCHAMBRES convenes the second edition of the European Parliament of Enterprises, under the patronage of the Belgian Presidency. For one day, every MEP in the Brussels hemicycle will be replaced by an entrepreneur from the same member state. The 751 entrepreneurs, in the company of Herman Van Rompuy, Jerzy Buzek and other key politicians, will vote on specific issues relating to business conditions, access to markets and human, financial and natural resources for companies. These are certainly not new issues, but they remain critical to European businesses’ ability to exit the current recession and deliver jobs, growth and competitiveness.
The Belgian Presidency must extract from this event specific priorities to pursue within the Europe 2020 Strategy. The launch of this strategy has been a huge anticlimax and the Belgian Presidency must now ensure that national governments move on from the haggling over targets to focus on how, in real terms, they will deliver the reforms and improvements that are needed if Europe is to grow sustainably and compete globally.
