The Alliance for a Competitive European Industry groups 11 major European industry sector associations (including CEPI) and BUSINESSEUROPE.
The common objective of its members is to promote the competitiveness of European industry on a global scale and to help address Europe’s transformation towards a sustainable and low-carbon future.
The Alliance members account for:
• 23 million jobs
• 1.3 million companies (more than 3/4 of which are SMEs)
• €5.7 trillion turnover annually
• 10.7% of EU GDP
The EU manufacturing industry accounts for about 20% of European GDP. But industry’s strategic importance is far greater because it accounts for 1 in 5 jobs and it is at the very heart of both innovation (with 80% of all R&D expenditure) and global competitiveness (with 75% of exports). Europe needs a vibrant industry to spark the innovation and growth required to meet the societal and environmental challenges that lie ahead.
Europe’s political leadership, including the European Commission, the European Parliament and Member State governments has acknowledged the exceptional role of industry. Each of these institutions has repeatedly declared that a strong and competitive industrial base is a key factor for achieving a knowledge-based, safe and sustainable low-carbon resource-efficient economy with substantial manufacturing employment.
We call on the political leadership to develop a long-term industrial policy that would establish favourable, stable, consistent and predictable conditions to help businesses to invest, to promote excellence, innovation and sustainability and to ensure we meet the European Commission’s goal that industry’s share of GDP should be as much as 20% by 2020.