Niall FitzGerald calls for revival of European Economic Forum Programme

Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald will today call for a renewed drive to make Europe the world's most competitive and dynamic economy. He will urge the European Union’s institutions, member states and businesses to use the successful roll-out of euro notes and coins as an opportunity to breathe new life into the ten-year programme of economic and social modernisation agreed by EU leaders at the Lisbon summit in March 2000.

Unilever chairman Niall FitzGerald will today call for a renewed drive to make Europe the world's most competitive and dynamic economy. He will urge the European Union’s institutions, member states and businesses to use the successful roll-out of euro notes and coins as an opportunity to breathe new life into the ten-year programme of economic and social modernisation agreed by EU leaders at the Lisbon summit in March 2000.

Mr FitzGerald, who will deliver the annual Cardiff Business School Management Lecture, claims the Lisbon agenda is “stalling” and urgently needs to be put back on track. “The economic reform programme is not an optional luxury to fine-tune the European Single Market, but an absolute necessity if businesses and consumers are to realise the full benefits of the single European market,” he says. “While the programme may not have run into the sand, it is in danger of doing so.”

At Lisbon, EU leaders committed themselves to an ambitious package of measures and reforms designed to make the EU the world's most competitive economy by 2010. The programme included further dismantling of internal barriers, continuing deregulation and modernisation of welfare systems. The forthcoming EU summit at Barcelona in March 2002, at which progress on the Lisbon agreement will be discussed, is seen in many quarters as a vital opportunity to get the reform programme back on track.

Mr FitzGerald points out that political pressures and the economic slowdown has played a part in the loss of momentum, but stresses that blaming policymakers and politicians for the current inertia is “too simplistic.” He continues: “Now, more than ever before, the politicians backing reform need businesses to stand up and be counted on this issue. If we cannot be bothered to do that, then arguments in favour of reform will ring hollow, and will be all the easier for others to ignore.”

The Unilever chairman will also repeat his call for the UK Government to set out a clear timetable for a decision on UK membership of the euro. “The growing impact of the euro will highlight the extent to which UK suppliers in many industries risk being frozen out of opportunities for pan-European sales and increased economies of scale”.

Mr FitzGerald will be speaking at the invitation of Neil Kinnock, President of Cardiff University. The Unilever co-chairman notes that Wales ? with fully 71 per cent of its exported goods going to other EU countries ? has much to gain from European economic reform. “These exports bring £4.7 billion a year into the Welsh economy, directly supporting some 155,000 Welsh jobs,” he says. “Given this background, the competitiveness and integration of Europe's economy is of central interest to Welsh business and the Welsh people as a whole.”

Mr FitzGerald comments that if the EU failed to seize the opportunity to reform and liberalise its economy, it would risk slipping back. “A lack of progress on many elements of reform raise the prospect that Europe will fail to achieve the competitiveness of which it is clearly capable”, he says. He singles out the UK and Spain as member states trying particularly to revive the momentum of the reform programme.

Turning to specific industry sectors, the Unilever chairman highlights the need for Europe to present a conducive environment for biotechnology start-ups. He adds that the current structure of regulation in Brussels means environmental concerns appear to dominate over competitive opportunities. “Unless this issue is brought to the top of the political agenda, Europe will lose an historic opportunity. The focus for biotechnology development will move outside Europe ? which would reduce our competitiveness for decades,” he says.