On 19 and 20 November 2009 in Bled, the ZDS hosted a meeting of the representatives of the eight employers’ and industry federations of the CEE initiative countries to discuss the current political and economic issues in the region. The meeting was led by the ZDS secretary general, Jože Smole.

The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) joined the group this year. The BIA is the largest of the six Bulgarian employers’ associations and it unites approximately 40,000 companies in its 54 branch associations.

The financial crisis was the overriding topic of the meeting. The EU autumn forecast for the years 2009 – 2011 show that the EU economy is emerging from the recession and the presidents and secretary generals of the group exchanged views on the planned exit strategies from the (partly) extensive economic stimulus packages at national level. In general, all federations support a national exit strategy, in order to prevent public deficits from growing too large. Instead of spending money for individual companies and subvention programmes, fund should be used for structural labour market reforms (implementing flexicurity), investments in R&D and more stimulating tax regulations. However, it was pointed out that the timing of the exit strategy plays an important role; removing the support too early could mean that the economy slumps again.
The partners also discussed the EC proposal on the supervision mechanism of the European financial markets. The proposal, which is supposed to result in a new European Financial Supervision system in 2010, caused conflicting opinions. On the one hand, could reformed supervision mechanisms at national and EU level offer better transparency and strengthen financial stability? On the other hand, will further regulations make access to funding more difficult for companies?

After the revision of the Lisbon strategy, which had the goal of making the EU “the world’s most dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010”, in the coming year the EU summit is expected to present the priorities for the EU’s new strategy post-2010. The presidents and secretary generals also discussed industrial policy, climate change policy and labour market issues, which are going to play an important role in the future strategy.

In addition, the group discussed related lobbying activities at national and EU level. The next meeting of the CEE initiative will take place in spring 2010 in Bulgaria.