New employers’ union boss warns against “red tape”

Date: 03/07/03

By Karen Carstens

JURGEN Strube, the new boss of Europe's employers' association, has called for less regulation and more competition to help revitalize the European Union's flagging economy.

Strube, a long-time leader of German chemicals giant BASF, took over at the helm of Brussels-based UNICE on Monday (30 June).

He replaces Baron George Jacobs, who held the post of president for five years.

UNICE represents more than 16 million European companies, which employ more than 106 million people.

Jacobs, speaking at a reception to mark the handover, emphasized what sets Europe apart from the United States when it comes to doing business.

"We must not forget our tradition of a strong social system and our environmental record - we ratified Kyoto, they didn't," he said, in reference to the climate change protocol the US has refused to support but the EU has championed.

"We must be proud of this," he added.

European Commission President Romano Prodi, who was also on hand to bid Jacobs farewell and welcome Strube, said the "Lisbon target" to make the EU the most competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, "should not be seen as a race" with the United States.

Instead, it should be regarded as an instrument for the Union to reform its economy.

Strube, who takes over as UNICE president for an initial mandate of two years, said "[less regulation and more competition] is what business thrives on", although he added that environmental and social protection should be automatically boosted by business, especially when the economy is doing well.

He also said that fostering competitiveness in the EU would be one of his key priorities.

Strube, who was the first chief executive officer to represent Europe on the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue in 1995 and again on an interim basis during its relaunch ahead of last month's EU-US summit, also said that decades of peace and stability in Europe had turned it into a true Chancenreich, or realm of opportunities.

However, these opportunities must not be encumbered by needless bureaucratic red tape, he warned.

"Despite criticism [of Europe's way of doing business], we have a vast landscape of knowledge to draw upon.

"Our most important raw materials are not to be found in the ground, but in our heads."

Moreover, one advantage that European managers often have over many of their counterparts is the ability to "communicate in such a manner that makes their partners feel highly valued", Strube said.