Czech Business Today
EU response must be understandable and well-communicated
Ahead of the European Council planned for 23rd April, European business organisations plead for a better EU response to the unprecedented coronavirus crisis. In their view, the EU response must be clear, efficient and translated into the new multi-annual financial framework (MFF). The new MFF will have to be more ambitious and it requests, inter alia, greater solidarity among Member States.
In its letter to Charles Michel, BusinessEurope highlights that the EU response must be well-communicated; which means there is a need to intensify communication on support schemes developed by the European Union and to explain, in an accessible way, where to turn to and how to proceed to benefit from them.
The business association also stresses that the schemes have to be operational rapidly, providing substantial cash support delivered at speed, with simplicity and flexibility for businesses. EUROCHAMBRES agrees that better financial liquidity of companies is required, and calls for the revision of EU state aid legal framework to reflect the recovery process, in particular by raising the thresholds for small businesses (de minimis regulation) and widening the eligibility criteria to include commerce and services.
Both organisations agree that the flow of goods and services within the single market must be ensured and that trade should be without restrictions. They also highlight the important role of digitalisation. Social distancing and working from home emphasised the importance of digitalisation and digitalised procedures, not just in terms of personal safety, but also administrative efficiency. EUROCHAMBRES in its input for the EU Recovery Roadmap recommends the Commission to consider postponing or extending the implementation of some complex rules and certain policy initiatives, particularly those that are currently or imminently at consultation stage. One thing is clear, measures leading to higher costs for companies must be put on hold and reassessed against the background of the economic shock caused by the pandemic.
