CEOE has participated in the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Presidents of BusinessEurope, the European Confederation of Companies that groups 39 organizations, in order to address the European response to the COVID-19 crisis.
CEOE, represented by its Vice President for Economic Affairs, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, has been responsible for transmitting the ideas and proposals that the President of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, who is also Vice President of European entrepreneurs, transferred the day before.
In this sense, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa has positively valued the measures implemented by the European Commission to date, although he has emphasized the need to do more at a European level, starting with greater coordination.
In addition, he pointed out that, although the fundamental thing is to face the health emergency to flatten the contagion curve, it is very important to start reflecting on the day after. Along with the protection of health, the fundamental objective, he recalled, is to alleviate the economic impact as much as possible while preserving the productive fabric.
In this sense, CEOE has advocated adopting a pragmatic approach that, in the first place, allows the European Investment Bank to perform the countercyclical role that it must have by providing more financing. Secondly, the launch of a large European fund for infrastructure financing, with State guarantees and that is ambitious enough to relaunch the European economy, may be a good signal to the markets about the Member States' commitment to the European Union.
Some proposals that both BusinessEurope, and the rest of its 39 member Confederations, have welcomed, concluding that, indeed, it is imperative that the European Union reinforces the measures adopted, based on a spirit of joint solidarity and responsibility.
