European Round Table for Industry

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The European Round Table for Industry (ERT) is a business advocacy group.<ref name=Economist>Template:Cite news</ref> It was previously known as the European Round Table of Industrialists.<ref name=Sabatino>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The group consists of approximately 60 chief executives of leading European multinational companies, mainly in the industrial and technology sectors.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The ERT promotes European competitiveness and prosperity, and aims "to strengthen Europe's place in the world" by encouraging cooperation between industry and policymakers.<ref name=About>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In contrast to the Confederation of European Business (BusinessEurope), which is made up of national business organizations and consists of enterprises of all sizes, the ERT represents large European firms that operate across countries in Europe and internationally. The focus of the ERT is on issues affecting the European economy as a whole.<ref name=Richardson>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp

Historically, the ERT has aimed to reinvigorate European industry through the promotion of a unified market (now called the European single market), high-technology cooperation, the creation of trans-European infrastructure, and improved European worker education and training.<ref name=Cowles>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp

History

Impetus for the establishment of the ERT

The European economy in the early 1980s was suffering from "eurosclerosis", that is, a lack of innovation and competitiveness compared to the United States and Japan.<ref name=Sabatino/> Although the European economy was approximately the same size as that of the US, and its level of scientific development was broadly comparable, it was plagued by poor polices and fragmentation.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, the CEO of Volvo, and 17 European business leaders created an organization in 1983 to speak out about the European economic situation and European industrial policy.<ref name=Cowles/>Template:Rp ERT members used the United States' Business Roundtable, a group that meets with members of the United States Congress and the executive branch, as a partial model for their organization.<ref name=Cowles/>Template:Rp

Early goals

The European single market has been described as "the issue that best defined the ERT's driving spirit".<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp That is, to build a single internal market where goods, services, and capital could flow as freely within the EU as in the US.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp As well, the ERT has emphasized the need for adequate infrastructure links (roads, high speed trains, a Channel tunnel) to support cross-frontier trade and movement of people. A third major objective was to reduce unemployment by raising the level of labour skills, freeing up labour markets, and encouraging entrepreneurship.<ref name=Cowles/>Template:Rp<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp While "none of these ideas was particularly original...what was new was the pan-European approach."<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

In 1984, the ERT unveiled its "Missing Links" project to improve Europe's transborder ground transportation infrastructure. This included a proposal for a road/rail tunnel linking the UK and France, a Scandinavian road/rail link to northern Germany, and a European high-speed train system.<ref name=Cowles/>Template:Rp The ERT supported the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden and the Fehmarn Belt Bridge.<ref name=Sabatino/>

Other issues addressed during the ERT's busiest decade, 1988 to 1998, included the environment, job creation, and taxation.<ref name=Sabatino/><ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

Focus issues: Trade, EU enlargement and monetary union

The ERT pushed hard for a world trade agreement during the Uruguay Round negotiations (from 1986 to 1993).<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp Following Brexit, the group urged the UK to create a frictionless trade deal with the EU, and to provide clarity about the terms of Britain's exit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The ERT argued for the adoption of international accounting standards, and it took an early lead in the debate on carbon emissions.<ref name=Sabatino/><ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

The ERT supported monetary union in the EU.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp It viewed monetary union as an essential component of the single market, and pursued the issue even while political leaders said it had little chance of success.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

From early on, the ERT was in favour of the enlargement of the European Union.<ref name=Sabatino/> During the 1988-92 period it had a management training initiative in eastern Europe following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

Assessment of ERT effectiveness

The Brussels Business is a 2013 documentary film by Friedrich Moser and Matthieu Lietaert on the influence of lobbyists and the lack of transparency of the European Union's decision-making processes. The ERT figures largely in the film as an organisation that has had the closest links with the EU.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A 1993 paper called Misshaping Europe provided the following assessment of the ERT: Template:Quote

The secretary general of the ERT from 1988 to 1998, Keith Richardson, responded to this criticism by noting that the lifeblood of the world economy comes from open markets and trade, and "In a world of six billion people it is inevitable that large organizations should form and play a leading role in both the public and private sectors".<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp Richardson conceded, however, that perhaps the ERT had done "too well" in the 1990s, and that the ERT failed to effectively communicate its ideas in a way that reached beyond world leaders to the general public.<ref name=Richardson/>Template:Rp

Chairs

(Source: ERT.eu)

References

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  • Cowles, M., G., Setting the agenda for a new Europe: the ERT and EC 1992, In: Journal of Common Market Studies, 33, 1995,
  • Cowles, M., G., The rise of the European multinational, In: International Economic Insights, 1993
  • ERT, Will European governments in Barcelona keep their Lisbon promises?, Message from the European Round Table of Industrialists to the Barcelona European Council, March 2002. Brussel, Feb. 2002
  • Template:Cite journal
  • Preston, M., E., The European commission and special interest groups, In: Claeys, P.-H., Gobin, C., Smets, I., Lobbyisme, pluralisme et intégration Européenne. Brussel, Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes, 1998, Template:ISBN
  • Template:Cite journal

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