Policy committees and working groups
Organised by the seven main policy committees, and composed of experts nominated by member federations, working groups debate proposed EU legislation and come to a consensus view of the impact on enterprises of these proposals. The views are issued as official BusinessEurope position papers (about 100 every year), and it is the task of the permanent staff to ensure that these views are taken into account as legislation is decided.
Economic & Financial Affairs Committee
Entrepreneurship & SME Committee
Industrial Affairs Committee
Internal Market Committee
International Relations Committee
Legal Affairs Committee
Social Affairs Committee
Economic & Financial Affairs Committee
Chair
Mr Konstantinos Diamantouros
Vice-Chairs
Mr Matteo Pignati
Mr Edward Feitsma
The Economic and Financial Affairs Committee draws on the work of its working groups to develop BusinessEurope’s policy in key areas of macroeconomics, economic governance, structural reform, taxation and financial regulation. In particular, the committee oversees the development of BusinessEurope’s twice-yearly Economic Outlook, looking at prospects for the EU economy, and our annual Reform Barometer.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff member |
|
| Tax policy | Mr Sune Hein Bertelsen | Mariella Caruana | +32.2.237.65.21 |
| The Tax Policy Working Group follows corporate tax policy issues at the European level and represents our members at EU tax groups such as the Platform for Tax Good Governance | |||
| V A T | Ms Tiina Ruohola | Mariella Caruana | +32.2.237.65.21 |
| The VAT Working Group deals with all issues related to value-added tax (VAT) at the European level and represents our members at the EU VAT Forum. | |||
| Green taxation | Ms An Theeuwes | Mariella Caruana | +32.2.237.65.21 |
| The Green Taxation Working Group deals with European priorities on CO2 and energy taxes, with the energy tax directive and green tax policies across the EU. | |||
| Regional policy | Ms Joana Valente | --- | +32.2.237.65.15 |
| The Regional Policy Working Group deals mainly with EU policy relating to the use of EU funds for economic development in member states. | |||
| Financial affairs | Ms Francesca Brunori | Erik Berggren | +32.2.237.65.55 |
| The Financial Affairs Working Group seeks to ensure access to finance on reasonable terms for companies so that they can make the investment that is necessary to drive growth and maintain competitiveness. It promotes properly balanced stability and growth considerations so that financial regulation does not become an unnecessary constraint for the EU economy | |||
Entrepreneurship & SME Committee
Chair
Mr Fabrice Le Saché
Vice-Chairs
Mr Sytse Karel Oreel
Mr Daniele Diano
The committee deals with improving the operational conditions that impact on SME creation and development: volume and quality of regulation, access to finance, access to EU and non-EU markets, etc. It also promotes the development of a horizontal EU SME policy aimed at unleashing the growth and job-creation potential of SMEs.
Staff member
Daniele Olivieri, +32.2.237.65.48
Industrial Affairs Committee
Chair
Mr Jean-Baptiste Léger
Vice-Chairs
Mr Holger Lösch
Mr Troels Ranis
BusinessEurope Industrial Affairs Committee deals with industrial competitiveness and growth. It oversees the work of working groups and task forces in the fields of energy, the environment and innovation.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff member |
|
| Energy and climate | Mr Nick Bitsios |
Agata Zalewska |
+32.2.237.65.97 +32.2.237.65.45 |
| The Energy and Climate Working Group deals among others with the Energy union - security of supply, energy efficiency, energy prices and costs, power market design - shale gas, the EU emissions trading scheme and international climate negotiations. | |||
| Research & innovation |
Mr Georg List |
Paloma Alonso |
+32.2.790.27.00 |
| The Research & Innovation Working Group deals mainly with research and innovation policies in general, including innovation governance and a better regulatory framework for innovation, the Innovation principle, science-based policy-making system, but also with research framework programmes, notably Horizon Europe. | |||
| Environment | Mr Carlo Pirrone | Alexandre Affre Maximilian Pieringer |
+32.2.237.65.39 +32.2.237.65.47 |
| The Environment Working Group covers, among others, the circular economy package, air quality, industrial emissions, REACH, as well as biodiversity and nature legislation. | |||
| Chemicals | Mr Thomas Holtmann | Alexandre Affre | +32.2.237.65.39 |
| The Chemicals Task Force is another spin-off of the Environment Working Group. | |||
| Trade and climate | --- | Matilda Lindblad (climate) Elena Suárez Sánchez (trade) |
+32.2.237.65.45 |
|
The Trade and Climate Task Force discusses the links between the two policy fields and how they could complement and enforce each other. The task force aims to contribute constructively to current discussions on the European level by identifying possible policy measures. |
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| Sustainable Finance Task Force | Alexandre Affre Pedro Oliveira |
+32.2.237.65.39 +32.2.237.65.56 |
|
|
The Sustainable Finance Task Force discusses the links between the sustainable finance taxonomy, non-financial reporting, corporate governance, EU financing instruments and related topics in the context of the Sustainable Europe / Green Deal investment plan. The task force aims to coordinate and develop input to current discussions on a renewed European sustainable finance strategy. |
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Internal Market Committee
Chair
Mrs Jana Hartman Radovà
Vice-Chairs
Ms Mette Peetz-Schou
Mr César Tello
The Internal Market Committee is responsible for setting out the overall priorities for BusinessEurope on single market issues and coordinates the activities of the relevant working groups. It also deals with transversal issues that are common to various single market areas.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff Member |
|
| Free movement of goods | Ms Mette Peetz-Schou | Jan Rempala | +32.2.237.65.64 |
| The Free Movement of Goods Working Group deals with removing existing obstacles for goods in the single market. This includes ensuring an effective European standardisation system; promoting the application of mutual recognition; and advocating market surveillance to maintain a level playing field. | |||
| Public contracts | Mr José Antonio Magdalena Anda | Jan Rempala | +32.2.237.65.64 |
| The Public Contracts Working Group deals mainly with safeguarding transparent and competitive tendering processes to provide the best economic value for taxpayers. The group also works on services of general economic interest and public-private partnerships. | |||
| Free movement of services | Ms Cemille Üstün | Michelle Marie Philipp | +32.2.237.65.58 |
| The Free Movement of Services Working Group deals with removing existing and preventing new barriers to freedom to provide services in the EU. It addresses regulatory and administrative barriers and issues of implementation of the key EU legislative acts in this policy area, such as the directives on services (2006/123/EC), on professional qualifications (2005/36/EC) or on a proportionality test before adoption of new regulation of professions (EU 2018/95) . | |||
| Transport | Mr Povilas Drizas | Michelle Marie Philipp | +32.2.237.65.58 |
| The Transport Working Group addresses the obstacles for an efficient single market for the transport sector from a broad perspective, bringing together the views of both transport operators and industry as transport services user at large. It defines BusinessEurope positions with regard to regulatory framework for the cross-border transport service provision, digitalisation of transport solutions, infrastructure financing and inter-operability, and establishes links with the work of the Low-Emission Mobility Task Force | |||
| Better regulation | Mr Christoph Bausch | Martynas Barysas | +32.2.237.65.72 |
| The Better Regulation Working Group seeks to ensure that better regulation tools, such as impact assessments, effective stakeholder participation, and comprehensive burden reduction programmes, are used by all decision-makers to cut red tape and devise proportionate legislation. | |||
| Digital economy | Mr Thomas Koenen | Svetlana Stoilova Jan Rempala |
+32.2.237.65.46 +32.2.237.65.64 |
| The Digital Economy Working Group covers a range of topics, including: the data economy, privacy law, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and the platform economy. | |||
International Relations Committee
Chair
Mr Wolfgang Niedermark
Vice-Chairs
Mrs Marta Blanco
Mr Thomas Bustrup
The committee defines broad policy objectives on international issues with a special focus on trade and investment priorities.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff member |
|
| WTO | Mr Marco Felisati | Sofia Bournou Elena Suárez Sánchez |
+32.2.237.65.29 +32.2.237.65.04 |
| The working group promotes multilateral trade liberalisation and prepares recommendations on the WTO work programme, covering negotiations for multilateral and plurilateral agreements. It also promotes the adoption of new rules in the area of multilateral trade. | |||
| Neighbourhood and enlargement | Mr Gernot Haas | Sofia Bournou | +32.2.237.65.29 |
| The working group covers neighbourhood countries, including the UK and Switzerland, and enlargement countries including Turkey (excluding Ukraine). It deals with aspects related to the enlargement process and economic relations with the countries in the region, including trade and investment arrangements. | |||
| Economic security | Mr Winand Quaedvlieg | Sofia Bournou Roemer Sijmons |
+32.2.237.65.29 +32.2.237.65.60 |
| The working group, as its names says, covers all aspects related to economic security, including critical technologies, export controls, investment screening, sanctions and anti-coercion. | |||
| Customs | Mr Leon Kanters | Elena Suárez Sánchez | +32.2.237.65.04 |
| The group covers a large number of customs policy areas and provides substantial input and output in topics such as the modernisation of the Union Customs Code and the customs chapters of various free-trade agreements. Our experts participate in the EU Trade Contact Group and provide technical input on how to modernise and simplify the EU customs processes for business. | |||
| Trade policy instruments and market access | Dr George Xirogiannis | Eleonora Catella Sofia Bournou |
+32.2.237.65.65 +32.2.237.65.29 |
| The working group covers traditional trade defence (anti-dumping, anti-subsidies, safeguards) and new instruments like the International Procurement Instrument or more traditional market access issues including trade and investment barriers. | |||
| Africa/Development | Mr Benoît Chervalier | Roemer Sijmons | +32.2.237.65.60 |
| The working group focuses on the role the private sector can play in policy-making for development. It also monitors the negotiations and implementation of economic partnership agreements signed between the EU, African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. | |||
| Asia-Pacific Network | Mr Rene Summer | Eleonora Catella Elena Suárez Sánchez Roemer Sijmons |
+32.2.237.65.65 +32.2.237.65.04 +32.2.237.65.60 |
| The network covers all Asia (except China) and the Pacific, and deals with all aspects of economic relations with countries in the region - including trade agreements. | |||
| China Network | Mr Olivier Joris | Elena Suárez Sánchez | +32.2.237.65.04 |
| The network focuses on the bilateral economic relationship between the EU and China. Important subject areas are the negotiations for a comprehensive agreement on investment and China’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. The group also focuses on China’s economic reforms and prepares input for BusinessEurope's participation in high-level bilateral dialogues, such as the regular EU-China Business Summit. | |||
| Americas Network | Mr José Manuel Rodríguez | Eleonora Catella | +32.2.237.65.65 |
| The network covers the whole American continent, with exception of the USA, and deals with all aspects of economic relations with countries in the region, including trade agreements. | |||
| United States Network | Mr Pat Ivory | Eleonora Catella | +32.2.237.65.65 |
| The US Network aims to provide a platform for discussing how to contribute to the successful conclusion of the negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as well as exchanging views on the overall EU-US relationship. It also maintains contacts with business organisations in the United States. | |||
| Eurasia Network | Mr Petri Vuorio | Sofia Bournou | +32.2.237.65.29 |
| The network covers the geographical region of Russia and Central Asia, dealing with all aspects of economic relations with countries in the region. | |||
| Trade and climate | --- | Elena Suárez Sánchez (trade) Alexandre Affre (climate) |
+32.2.237.65.04 +32.2.237.65.39 |
|
The Trade and Climate Task Force discusses the links between the two policy fields and how they could complement and enforce each other. The task force aims to contribute constructively to current discussions on the European level by identifying possible policy measures. |
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Legal Affairs Committee
Chair
Mr José María Campos
Vice-Chairs
Mr Jean-Benoit Devauges
Mr Göran Grén
The Legal Affairs Committee is responsible for setting out the overall priorities for BusinessEurope on legal issues and coordinating the activities of the working groups under its competence. It also deals with transversal legal dossiers going beyond the remit of a single working group.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff Member |
|
| Competition | Mr Jörn Eickhoff | Erik Berggren | +32.2.237.65.55 |
| The Competition Working Group is responsible for policy issues related to enforcement of EU antitrust rules – abuse of dominance, cartels and mergers. It focuses on horizontal initiatives linked to due process, actions for damages, the European Competition Network, rules on vertical and horizontal agreements among others. It contributes to the work of other groups on issues such as competition in the digital economy and telecoms, and deals with international competition law developments. | |||
| Company law | Ms Maria Larsson |
Maria Evangelia Kafana |
+32.2.237.65.36 |
| The Company Law Working Group deals with areas closely linked to the whole lifecycle of companies. This includes their creation (directives on formation requirements, European company forms), governance and relation to their stakeholders (corporate governance codes, shareholders rights and transparency) to their extinction (insolvency and restructuring). It promotes company mobility within the single market and good corporate governance. | |||
| State aid | Ms Isabel Yglesias Julià | Erik Berggren | +32.2.237.65.55 |
| The State Aid Working Group leads the activities related to the EU state aid setting, both on procedural and substantial aspects, to ensure a level playing field across the single market and consistent application of the rules, with appropriate procedures and enforcement. The group also looks into the need to ensure a sensible European approach to subsidies that takes EU’s global competitiveness into account and enables the achievement of European targets in terms, for example, of R&D spending, energy efficiency and regional development. | |||
| Trademarks and designs | Dr Martina Eberle | Elena Bertolotto | +32.2.237.65.51 |
| The Trade Marks and Designs Working Group focuses on the European trade mark system. Its priority is on implementation of the new EU framework by working with the EU agency responsible for the EU trade mark. It also follows the work of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. | |||
| Accounting harmonisation Sounding Board |
Mr Claes Norberg | Erik Berggren | +32.2.237.65.55 |
| The Accounting Harmonisation Working Group and Sounding Board seek to ensure a set of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) which meet the needs of European companies. It also promotes the USA converging their accounting standards with IFRS with a view to reaching mutual recognition. | |||
| TRIPs | --- | Elena Bertolotto | +32.2.237.65.51 |
| The TRIPs Working Group deals with how intellectual property impacts on global societal challenges (e.g. climate change, access to medicine, healthcare, e-waste, food and sanitation technologies). It supports global intellectual property minimum standards through the TRIPs agreement and fights against intellectual property expropriations. | |||
| Consumer/Marketing | Mrs Maria Therese Lein | Maria Evangelia Kafana | +32.2.237.65.36 |
| The Consumer/Marketing Working Group deals with EU consumer protection legislation and policy (consumer rights, redress, alternative dispute legislation, enforcement and information) as well as marketing law (commercial practices, trade practices and advertising). It promotes a sound and balanced consumer policy and strong consumer dialogue. | |||
| Patents | Mr Thierry Sueur | Elena Bertolotto | +32.2.237.65.51 |
| The Patents Working Group seeks to improve the overall patent system in Europe by making sure that the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court become a reality. It is also engaged in international patent cooperation activities between patent offices and businesses (e.g. Trilateral/IP5) to reduce costs, cut red tape and boost legal certainty for companies globally. | |||
| Copyright | --- | Elena Bertolotto | +32.2.237.65.51 |
| The Copyright Working Group deals with the ongoing EU copyright reform. It promotes a well-functioning and flexible copyright system to facilitate the digital evolution including effective enforcement also in the online environment. It supports a balanced approach between rightholders’ rights and the further development and provision of innovative services in the digital economy. | |||
Social Affairs Committee
Chair
Mr Mattias Dahl
Vice-Chairs
Ms Stefania Rossi
Ms Miriam Pinto Lomeña
The Social Affairs Committee sets the strategic direction for BusinessEurope’s work in the fields of employment and social affairs. It is the body responsible for adopting the positions prepared by the working groups under its competence. It follows the progress made in the EU member states in terms of implementation of labour market reforms. It also devises actions and oversees the negotiations in the context of the European social dialogue.
Working groups |
Chairs |
Staff Member |
|
| Industrial relations | Ms Helene Tanderup | Anna Kwiatkiewicz | +32.2.237.65.92 |
| The Industrial Relations Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to the EU legislation on working conditions (e.g. posting of workers, agency work, part-time work, fixed-term work) as well as information and consultation of workers (e.g. the European works councils directive). Members also exchange information on national-level developments in labour law and collective bargaining. | |||
| Social protection | Ms Mariya Mincheva | Giorgia Antonucci | +32.2.237.65.16 |
| The Social Protection Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to pensions and broader topics such as reforms of social protection systems. Members also exchange information on national developments in social protection systems. | |||
| Employment | Ms Kara McGann | Anna Kwiatkiewicz | +32.2.237.65.92 |
| The Employment Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to the overall approach towards EU employment policy, including youth employment and active labour market policies. | |||
| Health and safety at work | Mr Kris De Meester | Isaline Ossieur | +32.2.237.65.37 |
| The Health and Safety Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to health and safety at work, including EU strategies, EU legislation and specific topics such as EU ergonomics, workers’ exposure to chemicals and psychosocial risks. It also contributes to the healthy workplaces campaigns of the European Agency on Health and Safety at work. | |||
| Education and training | Ms Riikka Heikinheimo | Robert Plummer | +32.2.237.65.75 |
| The Education and Training Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues such as EU skills strategies, learning outcomes, apprenticeships, the European cooperation frameworks on vocational education and training and higher education, and EU education and training tools. | |||
| Corporate social responsibility/social clauses | Ms Anne Vauchez | Isaline Ossieur | +32.2.237.65.37 |
| The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)/Social Clauses Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to business voluntary commitment to take the social and environmental impact of their activities into account, in consultation with their stakeholders, in a way that support their competitiveness. It discusses EU strategies on CSR, legislation on disclosure of non-financial information, supply chain issues and exchanges of information on CSR practices and tools. | |||
| Migration and mobility | Mr Arne Franke | Robert Plummer | +32.2.237.65.75 |
| The Migration and Mobility Working Group discusses and prepares positions on issues related to third-country migration, notably EU legislation on economic migration (e.g. blue card directive), policies on labour market integration of refugees/migrants, as well as the issue of intra-EU worker mobility. | |||
| Equal opportunities | Mrs Gabrielle Sebardt | Giorgia Antonucci | +32.2.237.65.16 |
| The Equal Opportunities Network discusses and prepares positions on issues such as diversity, non-discrimination, gender equality and reconciliation of work and family life. | |||