Stenbock House — At today’s meeting with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Ernest-Antonie Seilliere the President of Unice (Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe) called upon Estonia to support the directive on the free movement of goods with as few exceptions as possible.
According to the Prime Minister, the well-functioning internal market of the European Union, of which the free movement of both labour and services form an integral part, is of utmost importance to Estonia. “The European Parliament has added several restrictions to the directive on the free movement of services, and with this the Parliament is moving away from the draft originally proposed by the Commission. Our task is to strengthen the competitiveness of the European Union as a whole, and a services directive that contains no exceptions would be a clear step towards that,” said Ansip.
At the meeting, Ernest-Antonie Seilliere expressed his concern about the political standstill, which is also manifest in the overall relatively low economic growth. “The business circles can sense a historical paradox in which a Europe that suffers from identity problems should, instead of standing still, move rapidly forward and strengthen its position in the world.” According to Seilliere, Estonia with its successful economy could serve in this area as an example to the European Union and make greater use of its right to speak when decisions are made.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister introduced Ernest-Antonie Seilliere to Estonia’s efforts in adopting the euro as the single currency.
Both Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Ernest-Antonie Seilliere made a presentation at today’s economic conference “the Flight of a Kite”, organised to celebrate the 89th anniversary of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation. In his presentation, the Prime Minister focused on the challenges that electricity production in Estonia and the entire Baltic region must face in the years to come. According to Ansip, we cannot speak seriously about the long-term competitiveness of the Estonian enterprise environment if we neglect choices in such strategic areas as energy. The main message of Ernest-Antonie Seilliere to Estonian employers was the need for cooperation on the European level. The President of UNICE said that it was very difficult for the entrepreneurs of the member states to separately put their ideas into practice, and much more joint action than before was needed for the sake of an economically successful Europe.
Before the appointment as the President of UNICE, Seilliere was the President of the French Business Confederation from 1997 to 2005. UNICE is the largest European enterprise organisation that represents the interests of over 20 million enterprises in the social dialogue on the European level.
Briefing Room of the Government Communication Office
http://www.valitsus.ee/brf/
press@riik.ee
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