Most European business leaders want to see a stronger role of the European Union to ensure their company's success, a survey showed yesterday.
According to the survey, 67 percent of the EU top-executives would like to see a stronger Europe, with 41 percent with the view that "more Europe" would be good. Only 11 percent would prefer Europe to do less in the future.
However, what the CEOs expect from a stronger EU is action instead of talk and more liberalization instead of further bureaucracy, said the survey, conducted by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, one of the world's leading strategy consultants.
Liberalization of market regulations was voted by CEOs as the most effective political initiative in boosting European growth and competitiveness, followed by development of transport infrastructure and the liberalization of labor market regulations.
Eighty-six percent of European CEOs said the EU needs to simplify standards and reduce red tape.
During the Spring Summit last week, the EU leaders approved a plan to slash the administrative burden on business arising from EU legislation by 25 percent, by the year 2012.
Despite broad support for a stronger Europe, the survey showed, ironically, more than a quarter of CEOs don't think their companies did profit from the EU.
Twenty-eight percent of the top executives said the EU has had no positive impact on their business. Only 23 percent believe that the EU has had a great impact on their companies' performance.
The survey also showed that CEOs are anxious to see the EU and its member states consolidate their policies and finally "do their homework."
A third of the 430 managers of leading European companies queried are critical of the way their own governments conduct EU policy making.
Seventy-one percent of French CEOs are particularly discouraged by their government's failure to convince voters of the benefits of the EU constitution.
The comprehensive survey of CEOs' opinion on the future of the EU was released on the occasion of the fifth European Business Summit, which kicked off yesterday in Brussels.
Around 2,500 participants from the EU business and political circles and even beyond Europe, including the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, joined the two-day discussion under the theme of "Reform to Perform: Europe is our Business."
"In 2005, we sowed the seeds. Now we can reap the first rewards of those reforms," Barroso said at the plenary session, referring to the brisk economic development now underway in the EU.
Barroso's optimism was shared by business leaders. Based on encouraging figures, they are also confident about the bloc's economic perspective.
Following a fast-track recovery in 2006, the EU economy is estimated to grow by 2.7 percent this year, closer to Lisbon's goals of a three-percent growth rate.
Its share of global exports stood at 38.9 percent last year, far ahead of the United States and Japan, whose shares were 8.7 percent and 5.3 percent respectively.
A recent ranking produced by the World Economic Forum showed that the EU can stand its ground against global competition, with most of the top ten countries in the world being within Europe.