22 October 2010 Henri Malosse, President

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1 Group I Internal Newsletter January October 2010 Henri Malosse, President EDITORIAL BY HENRI MALOSSE Europe in emergency At the start of this year, let me first offer my best wishes for health and happiness. For the European Union this year appears particularly risky, in the first place with the economic health of businesses and the fragility of public finances. Without more solidarity between member states and complementarity between the European and national levels, all achievements made during the 60 years of European integration could be jeopardized. It is paramount that the Employers' Group remains particularly vigilant during this difficult situation. The rigorous management of public finances, both at national and European levels is essential to find margins for investment in magic triangle "education-research-innovation" that will encourage the return of growth in Europe. The European Union can not resign itself to decline and is in absolute need of a strong industry. Faced with these challenges, the EESC is the only institutional body of the European Union in which entrepreneurs are directly represented. Faced with the danger of isolationism and lack of ambition of many policymakers, it is up to our group to display audacity in these proposals and to cooperate with the large European employers' organizations, in order to make the Voice of Business heard in Europe. Henri Malosse MEMBERS' VOICES How to market Europe, its economy, and culture better globally and how to improve the EU's international competitiveness? Eve Päärendson (EE) Vice-President Of Group I The understanding of the functioning of the EU outside of Europe is low and there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the economic situation of the EU. Changes coming as a result of the Treaty of Lisbon, new leadership in all 3 EU institutions, in addition to troubles in the euro zone have only worsened the situation. Europe's recent occupation with its internal restructuring and well as institutional problems has caused the EU to become a less and less important partner at the global level. The EU is a fundamentally valuable project, but we haven t yet managed to successfully sell this project abroad. We have failed with branding. The purpose of external relations of Employers Group is to raise the external profile of the EU, restore confidence regarding the Union's economy and businesses, and to increase the EU's international competitiveness. The external relations action plan of the Employers' Group compliments REX Section's activity. Well-functioning intra-employer relations, and intra-trade union, intra-consumer etc. dialogues are necessary for helping to understand the role of European civil society and to sell effectively the EESC's concept outside of Europe. Therefore the Groups of the EESC should strengthen their relations with their counterparts in our partner countries. 1

2 MEMBERS' VOICES The new Members' Statute As vice president of the Employers' group, in the short term I will devote particular efforts to establish a new Members' Statute. My goal is for the Statute to respect the official role of Members under the Treaties, and in particular their work done in an independent manner and in the interest of the Union. Paulo Barros Vale (PT) Vice-President of Group I It is also necessary to recognize the time that members of the EESC spend in service of the Committee. Establishing the Statute has been pursued over several decades, and it is essential to resolve it immediately, due to the new requirements that apply to our institution. GROUP I EVENTS Group I panel on the crisis of the Euro and economic governance The objective of the panel was to initiate an open and frank debate on the crisis of the Euro and on the recent setting-up of a stability mechanism during the last European Council summit, and to promote a constructive exchange of views among European employers' representatives and business. The discussion was launched by Bruno Vever, former EESC Member, who presented his paper "A bold commitment for the economic union to safeguard the monetary union - For an action plan ". The panellists included Employers' Group Members: Lena Roussenova, David Croughan, Maurizio Reale and Joachim Würmeling. The discussion was moderated by Henri Malosse, President of the Employers' Group. 2

3 Stephane Buffetaut (FR) Chairman TEN Section Stephane Buffetaut's meeting with Commissioner Günther Oettinger on energy Günther Oettinger EU Commissionner for Energy The Chairman of TEN Section and Member of Group I, Stephane Buffetaut, met Commissioner Günther Oettinger on 7th December 2010, and discussed the important role of civil society and citizens for the public acceptance of the EU energy policy. On the cooperation between the Commission and the EESC in creating a European Energy Community, Commissioner Oettinger suggested that instead, the priority should be on the implementation of the existing legislation, recently expanded by the Lisbon Treaty (Article 194), which should help "Europeanise" the energy policy. He encouraged the EESC to take up this idea in conjunction with Notre Europe. He added that the main priority for the Commission right now is energy efficiency, where the potential is huge but we are making little progress. Mr. Oettinger accepted Mr Buffetaut's invitation to the inauguration of a sustainably renovated social housing in Strasbourg, and stressed that the EU needs to be a pioneer in this field. The Commissioner welcomed TEN Section's Glossary of Sustainable Construction, scheduled to come out in April Mr. Oettinger supported the development of renewable energy in the Mediterranean region, and is interested to cooperate with the EESC on the organisation of the events in North Africa and Brussels. On the topic of what neighbourhood policy is needed to ensure security of energy supply for the EU, Commissioner Oettinger mentioned that the Energy Council meeting under the Hungarian Presidency will address the issue of the external dimension of the energy policy, and welcomed the EESC to contribute to this point. The Commissioner proposed a meeting to follow up the cooperation between the Commission and the EESC, after the EU Summit on Energy on 4 th February Madi Sharma at the Green Entrepreneurship Co-Creation Workshop Madi Sharma (UK), together with twelve young representatives of the Generation Europe Foundation from all over the world, and members of entrepreneurship organisations took part in a workshop on Green Entrepreneurship on 8-10 December The GreEn workshop focused on the need for young people to become active in social and sustainable entrepreneurship. The event took place at The Hub in Brussels, and was captured in storyboards by Nick Payne. The participants discussed: using local communities and members to identify local issues and develop new ideas, building bridges of information exchange between regions and Member States, the patterns for better education, and entrepreneurial approaches to promoting women's and children's rights and combating discrimination. The first steps of starting a green business were identified, together with social action as a business model, and the need to influence policy in improving conditions for entrepreneurs. 3

4 Ivan Voleš at the EU construction and technical equipment conference TZ PRAGUE 2010 On 21 st and 22 nd November 2010, Group I member Ivan Voleš (CZ) and Petr Kuzel, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, participated in the 10th International Conference TZ PRAGUE 2010 with representatives of business associations of construction and technical equipment from EU countries. The fulfilment of political promises is expected, namely regarding the "Think Small First" principle in: establishing the position of ombudsman in the area of public procurement who could protect the interests of SMEs, especially micro enterprises and the self-employed, and facilitating their access to EU programs and Structural Funds. As crucial was identified the setting up of a Security card (passport) across the EU. Regarding corporate social responsibility, the participants agreed that it might contribute to an increase of the competitiveness of a business to a large extent, but it should remain a voluntary concept. Concerns were raised about the upcoming tax increase from 2012 in new construction and reconstruction of family buildings as a result of the adoption of the new EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD). It was identified that there is a need to assist owners of older apartment buildings and houses to motivate them to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. "The older the building, the greater the potential for improving its energy efficiency. Henri Malosse on "The Renewal of the Community method" On 13 December 2010 at the Maison de l'europe in Paris, the President of the Employers' Group of the EESC Henri Malosse gave a speech entitled "The Renewal of the Community method". In the presence of Bruno Vever, Secretary General of "Europe and Enterprise", Mr. Malosse stated that the community method's renovation was based on joint projects implemented by autonomous institutions, which ensured the originality and success of European integration. However, it seems to be threatened by a return to national priorities and approaches which are increasingly intergovernmental. Henri Malosse questioned whether the Community method retains its rationale for building the Europe of tomorrow, given that it is faced with economic and financial disturbances and public opinion concerns. NEWS FROM GROUP I After the success of the second edition of the Young European Entrepreneurs' Seminar, which took place November 2010 at the EESC, we created the online forum on Young European Entrepreneurs, on which our Members and partners can follow and contribute to our initiatives on young entrepreneurship: 4

5 AFTER THE PLENARY OPINIONS PRESENTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE EMPLOYERS' GROUP AND ADOPTED DURING THE PLENARY SESSION OF JANUARY 2011: INT/524 Green Paper on policy options towards a European contract law for consumers and businesses by Antonello PEZZINI INT/531 Retail market monitoring report - "Towards more efficient and fairer retail services in the internal market for 2020" by Pedro Augusto ALMEIDA FREIRE INT/536 Marketing and use of explosives precursors by David SEARS INT/541 Approval and market surveillance of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles by Virgilio RANOCCHIARI INT/542 Short Selling and certain aspects of Credit Default Swaps by Peter MORGAN Otherwise, Members of Group I successfully passed amendments to opinions, most notably the amendments presented by José Isaías RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA-CARO and José SARTORIUS ÁLVAREZ DE BOHORQUES (on INT/526 - Report on Competition Policy 2009), as well as by Peter MORGAN (on INT/527 - Corporate governance in financial institutions and remuneration policies), and by José María ESPUNY MOYANO (on NAT/483 - Fruit juices). FOR YOUR AGENDA (SAVE THE DATE) Upcoming events of Group I: - Meeting of the EESC Bureau members of Group I 15/02/2011, 10:00 12:30 - Meeting of the Group I Bureau 16/02/2011, 09:00 10:00 - Group I meeting 16/02/2011, 10:00 13:00 - Extraordinary Group I meeting on Members' financial statute 23/02/2011, 09:00 13:00 NEW WORK - Please find the details of the New Work in attachment. Editor-in-Chief Henri MALOSSE European Economic and Social Committee Telephone: +32 (0) GROUP I INTERNAL Editor Employers Group Fax: +32 (0) Newsletter of the Birgit FULAR Rue Belliard, 99 gr1@eesc.europa.eu Employers Group of the Editorial Consultant 1040 Brussels Website: European Economic and Social Committee Milen MINCHEV Belgium January 20,