Month: February 2020

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Digitalisation is a key challenge for SMEs

Digital

The benefits of digitalisation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are multiple, allowing them to boost competitiveness, expand market access and improve customer relations. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) considers it necessary to support the digital transformation of SMEs with measures adapted to the specific needs of different types of companies.

The information report Digitalisation and SMEs in the Mediterranean region adopted by the EESC sets out to analyse the current state of play of digitalisation in northern, southern and eastern Mediterranean countries and highlight specific challenges. One of the main conclusions of the report is the need to establish a “broad policy agenda aimed at strengthening the decisive role of SMEs in the socioeconomic development of the Euro-Mediterranean countries and, most importantly, in the fight against unemployment”.

According to María Helena De Felipe Lehtonen, rapporteur of the report, SMEs’ digitalisation in the EuroMed region is of the utmost importance if they are to increase their competitiveness in the global market.

The availability of digital infrastructure does not automatically lead to the adoption of digital business models and technologies. According to the 2019 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Commission, more than 50% of firms in Mediterranean EU Member States such as Greece, Spain, Italy or France have very low levels of digital intensity, compared to less than 20% in leading countries such as Finland, Denmark or the Netherlands. Continue reading “Digitalisation is a key challenge for SMEs”

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A strong European brand οf products and services to enhance European competitiveness

Flag

The coming years will see new prospects and challenges for European products and services, according to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Providing innovative, highly specialised products and services with well-recognised and certified key characteristics can boost European competitiveness, says the EESC.

Unanimously adopted, the EESC’s own-initiative opinion “Use-value” is back: new prospects and challenges for European products and services  aims to raise awareness of the branding of European products and services that cater to customers’ needs, as well as to social and environmental sustainability requirements.

Addressing the plenary, the rapporteur for the opinion, Dimitris Dimitriadis, said: Thirty years ago, ‘made in Europe’ was a guarantee for a product; now we are behind China, India and the United States; we have lost the European commercial brand name and want to get it back on track. Mr Dimitriadis mentioned the position of advantage of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the benefits of this. Continue reading “A strong European brand οf products and services to enhance European competitiveness”

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We need a wellbeing economy that works for people and the planet

Ecology

The EU is currently confronted with emergencies that are challenging its prevailing economic models. Slogans that until recently were used as the flagship of the European project, such as growth, jobs and prosperity, are no longer enough to speak to the hearts of the young generations of Europeans. The EU is under pressure to respond to a number of multifaceted challenges, which originated from a decade of economic and migration crises, social discontent and environmental degradation. It needs to reinvent itself fast, for the sake of its citizens.

This EESC opinion aims to define what “the sustainable economy we need” should look like by exploring a new vision of prosperity for people and the planet, bringing together economic, environmental and social dimensions in an integrated manner. The EESC is calling on the EU to propose new economic models, investment decisions to harness technological advances, and new indicators for the wellbeing economy, in order to regain citizens’ trust and belief.

With the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, a commitment to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development by 2030 worldwide, and the European Green Deal, with the goal of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, the EU has finally made these issues its top priorities.

However, the most important thing is that this Green Deal becomes a real Green and Social Deal, making sure that the transition to a climate-neutral economy, which leaves no one behind, is just and coherent from A to Z. In fact, we need to rethink the whole system.

To ensure a just and green transition and implementation of the SDGs, we have to re-think our EU economy. ‘We must reboot the system but we need new software, not just an update!’ said rapporteur Peter Schmidt. Continue reading “We need a wellbeing economy that works for people and the planet”