Entrepreneurs’ resilience cannot be taken for granted
Europe’s business community has suffered multiple blows over the last three years. Our entrepreneurs continue to show impressive resilience in the face of unprecedentedly strong economic and geopolitical headwinds. But this resilience cannot be taken for granted and cannot go on indefinitely.
The newly released 30th annual edition of the Eurochambres Economic Survey – based on responses from over 42,000 companies in 25 European countries – underlines this. Entrepreneurs are grappling with rising wage and production costs, as well as uncertainty about supply chains and the economic outlook. The survey indicators show that businesses expect that things will get worse in 2023 before they can get better. Indeed, business confidence and expectations for 2023 are at a historic low compared to the 29 previous survey editions, which have of course spanned other difficult periods, including the 2008-09 financial crisis and more recently the pandemic.
Concerns about affordable access to energy and raw materials, skills shortages and labour costs are among the key challenges that shape the feedback from businessmen and women across Europe. It is clear that for many of our entrepreneurs, the focus in 2023 will be on short-term damage limitation, to the detriment of longer-term planning, investment and competitiveness.
Chambers of commerce and industry call for coordinated European solutions to this challenging economic context. This should build on the strength of the single market, also celebrating its 30th anniversary soon. The single market has driven Europe’s economic development over the years, but the worrying fall in export forecasts revealed in our survey reiterates the need to tackle the many remaining barriers to free movement and unlock further opportunities for our businesses, including SMEs. The single market additionally offers the springboard for a more proactive and ambitious EU trade agenda by concluding new trade agreements with countries where the bulk of future global growth is expected.
Our survey also highlights entrepreneurs’ concerns about skills shortages and labour costs, a complex and socio-economically damaging blend. With 2023 earmarked as the European Year of Skills, chambers will be looking to work with the EU institutions on effective responses to rapidly evolving labour market needs, such as mobility schemes, upgrading vocational education and training and forecasting tools.
More generally, chambers urge EU and national policy-makers to be conscious of the plight of entrepreneurs and to recalibrate the legislative agenda to allow them sufficient breathing space to safeguard their future and drive Europe’s medium to long term sustainable growth: Business as usual is not an option for our entrepreneurs, and it is not an option for our policy-makers either.
Source: Cyprus News Agency