CECE’s 10-point manifesto for Europe

A manifesto for a 10-point action plan for strong industrial production in Europe has been presented to the EU Parliament by the presidents of CECE (the Committee for European Construction Equipment) and CEMA (the European association representing the agricultural machinery industry).

Johann Sailer (CECE) and Gilles Dryancour (CEMA) handed over the manifesto to MEP Malcolm Harbour at the CECE-CEMA summit held on October 16 in the European Parliament.

The two associations said that by doing this, the European construction equipment and agricultural machinery industries were underlining their commitment to playing an active role in reaching the European Commission’s target of raising the share of industry in Europe from 16% of GDP to at least 20% by 2020.

At the manifesto handover, Dryancour said, “We call on the EU to make industrial competitiveness the centre of EU policymaking, and this is our contribution.”

He added, “Strong and competitive industrial production in Europe is essential to drive Europe out of recession and keep our common economic area wealthy and economically successful”.

Noting that fierce global competition was being faced, both industries underlined that the EU needed to set the right framework conditions for them to deliver growth, create jobs and compete at international level.

According to the associaitons, there are 10 major fields of action. They called for the introduction of stronger competitiveness-proofing and fitness checks, and to ensure more coherent EU policy-making.

Ensuring EU legislation boosted the industry’s ability to innovate to remain ahead of competitors was the next point, followed by a call to seek greater international policy alignment to avoid technical barriers to trade, and to reduce the administrative burden of complying with EU legislation.

The completion of the Internal Market was highlighted, as was the need to ensure fair competition through better market surveillance.

There was a need, the manifesto said, to invest massively in infrastructure, and to deepen partnerships for a skilled workforce.

Finally, it called for the promotion of free access to foreign markets.

The CECE-CEMA summit was attended by more than 300 delegates, including industry representatives, EU policy makers and partners of the industry. It was hosted by Amalia Sartori, MEP and chair of the Parliament’s important Industry Committee.

Also among the keynote speakers was Massimo Baldinato, member of the Cabinet of EU Commission vice president Antonio Tajani. From the industry, Olof Persson, president and CEO of Volvo Group, and Andreas Klauser, COO for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at CNH Industrial, outlined the perspectives of the sectors and its requests to politics.